Since Roy Halladay is going to be around a while longer, he’ll need some help to win twenty games. Perhaps he’ll get some from the Blue Jays’ man of mystery, Vernon Wells, whose sub-standard season remains the greatest puzzle of 2009.
First, know this: Wells isn’t mailing anything in now that he has the security of an enormous pay-cheque. He’s analyzed his swing, his set-up, and his timing repeatedly. And he continues to study the pitchers that seem to fool him more often than not.
Still, the success continues to be terribly infrequent.
Consider the incredible contrast in batting at Rogers Centre versus elsewhere. His splits (Home: .175 avg/.301 slugging – Road: .323 avg/.491 slugging) reveal a man far more comfortable when he’s not hearing the jeering of the local crowd.
Most ball players like to say they aren’t bothered by the reaction of the audience. I say hog-wash.
Wells hears you. He knows you’re there. But don’t take his apparent lack of emotion as a sign that he doesn’t care. He simply feels the season is too long to smash the Gatorade cooler after a mid-June strikeout.
One of the more ingrained images in recent years is that of Wells rounding first base with fist in the air after a walk-off home run against Mariano Rivera and the Yankees. Problem is, this happened three years ago. Those are the moments that players like Wells are supposed to produce more often.
This year, Wells has been far from clutch, and the numbers don’t lie: a .177 batting average with runners in scoring position before the All-Star break (0-for-9 since) and 10 home runs after 99 games simply aren’t good enough for a player of his caliber. Or, should that be athlete of his caliber.
A former teammate recently told me he believes Wells leans too heavily on athleticism, and not enough on baseball smarts. The inference was this: Wells figures he can hit almost anything, and it has led to impatience at the plate and poor pitch selection.
Though Halladay still wears the Blue Jay uniform, all the pitching in the world isn’t much of a help if there aren’t players around to drive in the runs. Whatever ails Wells needs to be cured if the Blue Jays wish to get back to the post-season.