ARLINGTON, Texas -- Through his first 31 games of the 2012 season, the offensive numbers are definitely down a bit for Vernon Wells (.223-4 HR-8 RBI). And the Arlington Bowie product comes off a 2011 season, his first with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, where he hit just .218 but managed to belt 25 HR and 66 RBI in 131 games. That's not exactly what Halo fans and many around baseball expected, especially considering what the Angels had given up to acquire him from Toronto.
But 2011 was all about transition for this 33-year-old outfielder. Not only did Wells come to a new team with a new skipper in Mike Scioscia, but he also was learning how to play a new position, left field. He had previously played center for the Blue Jays, so learning the nuances of left was a bit of an adjustment.
"Learning experience, in this game you're always learning no matter how long you've been in it," he said when asked to sum up how he looks back at last season. "Change, it just depends on how you look at it. You take some positives away from what happened last year but you learn from those negative things and the things that didn't happen as expected. You use that as motivation, as fuel to get better. Hopefully when some younger guys or other guys come over here and go through some of those things you can help walk them through it."
And in a follow-up question about how he views his first season with the Halos, he admitted he was trying to pull the ball too much, but added that he's now working on trying to hit the ball to the middle of the field more, an adjustment that remains a work in progress. However, it was the focus of much of his work during the offseason.
"Just trying to get back to the middle of the field, got a little bit too pull happy last year. I thought I became a home run hitter when that really wasn't me. I was just trying to hit line drives and some of those line drives became elevated and became home runs. You maybe forget about just being a good hitter and not worrying about where the ball ends up," Wells admitted. "Even to this day, it's still difficult to hone in on that because home runs, they're a good time obviously. But playing in Angel Stadium, once that sun goes down, it's not a hitter-friendly park, so you've just got to worry about hitting the ball hard. Here [in Arlington] you've got a chance. It's always fun to come play here for that reason."
Returning home to play in a town he grew up in is nothing new for Vernon, whose father is one of America's most renowned sports artists. But even though he's been back to Texas more than a few times with Toronto or now with Anaheim, the coolness of that experience is something that will never wear off. "Well, it's always good to come home. It's good to be in your own bed, be back with your family and kind of get back to as normal as things can be in your life," Wells said.
And this year, he's returning with several teammates who also hail from the Metroplex in rookie reliever Dave Carpenter, an Arlington native who got his first big-league win in Saturday's win over the Rangers, second-year reliever Jordan Walden, who hails from Fort Worth and left fielder Torii Hunter, who isn't originally from DFW but has called Prosper home for a number of years now.
"Myself, Carp and Walden grew up here," Wells said. "Torii's now a resident. We'll officially welcome him since he's been here for quite a few years. It's just that feeling of coming home and seeing your family. It's those moments during a long baseball season that you cherish so much. Any time you get a chance to come home, whether it's an off day or during a series, it's huge for us just to get us away from the game for a little bit."
One big difference between this trip home and many others in the past is that this one features all three games being nationally televised, definitely a big deal for him and his Angel teammates.
"This is probably the most glorified series that I've ever played against the Rangers. Being with the Blue Jays, it was always it's the Blue Jays in town being in a different division. But being a part of the Angels and the acquisitions we made obviously in Albert [Pujols] and CJ [Wilson]'s the big one coming back and starting here when it comes to being a Ranger that just adds excitement to coming home," Wells said.
He added: "I think that's your sign of unless you're the Yankees or Red Sox, it's kind of hard to get three nationally-televised games. So this'll be a fun opportunity, especially for some of our younger guys to get a chance to play in this atmosphere. Having all three games sold out, standing room only you know the crowd's going to be into it. It's just going to be a fun environment to play the game."
And while the Halos haven't started the season off like they would have hoped,
Wells sees them getting things together of late and sees them doing more good things in the near future.
"Well, I think the expectation level went up obviously not only in this clubhouse but outside this clubhouse [when we signed Pujols and Wilson]," he said. "The start wasn't exactly what we anticipated but I think that's something we can build off of later, having gone through that. Now we have a chance to correct that. We've been playing better baseball of late and hopefully next time if we end up going through one of those periods again, we can stop it a little earlier because we know what we need to do to get better."
Angels manager Mike Scioscia would obviously like to see Vernon's numbers get better, but one part of his game he's pretty happy with is what a strong mentor he and Hunter both have been to such young outfielders as the speedy duo of Peter Bourjos and Mike Trout.
"Our clubhouse has a lot of great mentoring that goes on and Vernon is one of those veterans for as long as he's played center. He's making a switch to left, which is an adjustment for Vernon. He shares experience with these kids," Scioscia said. "He and Torii [Hunter], they're a really calming influence. And I think they really appreciate and really understand how they can freelance more at their position because of the range they have next to them. Last year, our outfield defense was a plus and Vernon was a big part of that and they're continuing to play well this year."
Bourjos definitely echoes the sentiments of his skipper. "It shows what kind of outstanding person Vernon is. He's helped me with routes, getting jumps and then in the batter's box too, looking for certain pitches. That's the one guy I always go to. When he's seen a guy and I haven't, I ask him what he's got on this guy because I value his input on the way pitches move, the breaking balls and what they look like coming out of the hand," he said. "That's one guy that I trust in that sense."
