DUNEDIN, FLA.—Major league camp for the Blue Jays has never lacked for a Vernon Wells, even after the all-star outfielder was traded away to the Angels prior to the ’11 season. The former all-star has, every year since, been replaced by his father, Vernon, Sr., a popular sports artist with some of his portraits still hanging in Jays’ offices.

But on Tuesday, it was the sight of the more familiar Vernon Wells, the son, back in the familiar Jays blue he wore for 14 years, invited to camp for a few days to be on the field to work with some of the Jays young outfielders — like Dalton Pompey.

“First and foremost, he’s a good kid,” Wells said of first impressions of the 22-year-old from Mississauga. “Anyone you talk to, anyone you’re around will tell you that’s a good start. You want a kid who’s willing to open his ears and not think that he’s got it figured out by age 22. When you run into those types, they tend to weed themselves out pretty quickly.”

Wells’ history of a rapid rise to the majors and then halting steps to establish himself, with huge speed bumps along the way, makes him ideal to speak to Pompey and make comparisons.

“I got to the big leagues when I was 20,” Wells recounted. “I thought I had it all figured out. I went to spring training that next year and started off well, got sent down, and I pouted pretty much all of 2000. That wasn’t the right way to handle it. Went to spring training in 2001, played pretty well and still got sent back down. But at that point, I knew the numbers, there were too many outfielders, and I handled that a whole lot better. So, for me, going through the year of the struggle was good. I tell kids now, and I speak to these guys like they’re kids, because I’m a coach now.”

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So what are some of the assets, attributes and issues Wells can warn Pompey about as he spends the next 30 days trying to prove he can handle the starting centre-field job for a contender?

“That it’s not a matter of failure,” Wells said. “You’re going to fail. It’s how you respond to that failure that defines you as a person, an athlete. It’s taking those failures, learning from it and being better for it. That’s part of the whole process, not just to him, but to the Bautistas (of the world). It’s going to happen in this game. You need to be able to be absorbent and know that each and every day you come to the field, you’re wanting to learn something because that’s what this game is about. You continue learning until the day you’re done, and as long as he keeps that attitude, he’ll be fine.”

Wells recalled, and gives credit to, Carlos Delgado as being that person who did for him what he has tried to pass on to others as he became more veteran and a leader. But the relationship wasn’t always a close one with the Canadian Hall-of-Fame first baseman. It started from the bottom.

“(Carlos) thought I was just some arrogant prospect coming up, and then he realized I was just quiet,” Wells laughed. “The conversations we’d have about pitchers, the preparation and, ‘What do you think this guy’s going to do,’ would help me take that knowledge and go to (Alex) Rios after Carlos left. Because Alex – they’d bring somebody out of the bullpen and I’d be like, ‘Alex, what are you thinking right here?’ and he’d be, “I don’t know. Who is this?’ I’d be like ‘What do you mean?’ I was kind of able to translate the information that I gather to him. Carlos was like that to me.”

Wells has no immediate plans to pull on the uniform full-time as a coach again. He stays busy at home near Arlington, Texas, with his wife, Charlene, his two sons, now 12 and 9, and his charity. His jobs including cooking for the family and coaching his sons. For now, that’s enough.