Vernon Wells (50)

Stance: Turns his front foot in slightly, and lifts it up and down as a timing trigger. Keeps his hands neck high and close to his body. Doesn’t stride consistently towards the ball, and at times simply lifts his front foot and puts it back down instead of striding.

Approach: Patient hitter, rarely swings at the first pitch. Struggles with pitch recognition, and often swings at pitches that he can’t do anything positive with. Has good strike zone recognition. Strikes out quite a bit, and doesn’t walk nearly enough.

Hitting Ability: Line drive swing, that he struggles to hit to opposite way with. Pitchers frequently work him outside and then get him to chase down and out of the zone. Has sacrificed hitting for average in an effort to keep his homerun totals above 20, was never a high average hitter to begin with. Injuries to his wrists and hands have really hampered his hitting. Hits lefties very well.

Power: Above average power, mainly to the pull side of the field. Capable of hitting 20-25 homeruns if given an everyday opportunity. Rarely hits the ball out of the park to the opposite field.

Running: Currently grades out as an average runner, but his running ability will continue to decrease until he improves his conditioning. Started out as an above-average runner. Will still try to swipe a base on occasion but struggles with his success rate, and because of this will only attempt around ten steals a year.

Fielding: A former Gold Glove centerfielder has now been pushed into left field because of his decreased speed and therefore range. Still gets incredible reads off the bat and has an average arm with above average accuracy. My eventually get pushed to first base or designated hitter if he cannot adjust to first base.

Physical Description: Athletic build that is starting to go south. Has a large barrel chest, with broad shoulders. Has good muscle distribution, but lacks definition. Powerful legs and thighs. Has begun to add bad weight in an effort to add more power. Needs to work on conditioning as his body is conducive to adding bad weight, especially around his midsection.

Projection: A former All-Star and Gold Glove centerfielder who has struggled with conditioning and confidence. Is now a slightly above league average player who has the potential to become above average if he can begin to hit for a higher average and on-base percentage. Still hits lefties fairly well and could be best used in a platoon situation. Really struggles with his confidence, and gets down on himself when things don’t go his way.