Vernon Wells III (born December 8, 1978) is a Major League Baseball player for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Wells has appeared on three All-Star teams in his career, been awarded three Gold Glove Awards, and one Silver Slugger Award. He is among the league's highest paid players, having in 2007 signed a $126 million contract extension that ends in 2014.
The Toronto Blue Jays made Wells round one's fifth pick in the 1997 amateur draft. He spent several years as a top prospect in the Blue Jays organization, starting with the St. Catharines Stompers, Toronto’s Class-A team in the short-season New York – Penn League. In 1999 he played in the Australian Baseball League with the Sydney Storm. From 1999 through 2001, Wells was a regular September call-up and played in 57 games.
Wells began the year on a promising start, hitting 4 home runs and 8 RBI in the first series. He continued to play and hit well and had a strong start by hitting .337 with 8 home runs and 16 RBI in April. On April 7, he also had his first multi-home run game against the Rangers the first time he had done that since September 28, 2008. On June 27, Wells hit a two-run home run that made Jamie Moyer of the Philadelphia Phillies, Major League Baseball's all time most home runs allowed leader with 506. On July 5, 2010 Wells was named a reserve for the 2010 MLB All-Star Game, along with José Bautista, and John Buck from the Toronto Blue Jays. Wells was also a participant in the Home Run Derby, where Chris Berman predicted that Wells, whom he nicknamed the "Canadian Breeze," would carry away the title. Wells ended up hitting two home runs in the first round.
On January 21 2011, Wells was traded to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, in exchange for catcher Mike Napoli and outfielder Juan Rivera.
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