Outfielder Casper Wells #33
27 years old; Experience: one year
Last season, a synapse snapped in Jack Z's brain and he went on a rampage acquiring every single young outfielder he could in all of major league baseball. One specific man, a man by the name of Casper Wells, made the cut onto the juggernaut that is the Seattle Mariners outfield. Wells was acquired last year from the Detroit Tigers as part of the Doug Fister trade.
Wells is a solid outfielder with theoretically a dependable bat. He showed flashes of that last year, hitting a home run in four straight games between August 13th and August 16th until Brandon Morrow had enough of those shenanigans and hit him on the tip of the nose to end the streak. Wells' Spring Training was largely unimpressive unless you count striking out impressive, which in that case Wells had a very impressive Spring Training.
Throughout most of his career in the minors, Wells has shown a very balanced approach to the game. He doesn't hit for too much power and doesn't steal too many bases. He has always had a pretty decent OBP (except for his less than glamorous 2010 year) which helps boast his all around value on the basepaths. He is a solid fielder who doesn't make a whole lot of bad decisions.
However, with the sudden emergence of Mike Carp last year and the insistence on shoveling Chone Figgins out as much as possible to salvage the slightest bit of use out of his contract, Wells time in the outfield will be sporadic at best. The left field platoon seems that it will eventually end up Carp/Figgins when everyone is healthy, so that leaves Wells to try and impress Eric Wedge into forcing himself in there over either Carp or Figgins. It remains to be seen, but the outfield is crowded with Michael Saunders being the defacto fourth outfielder, so don't expect to rock your Casper Wells jerseys in Safeco too often this year.