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Minor league pitcher eyes shot in the show
Published November 30, 2006
After a steady climb, Brazoria’s Jared Linn Wells is just a step away from the Major Leagues.
A right-handed pitcher, Wells was selected by the San Diego Padres with the 925th selection of the 31st round in 2002. After a stellar 2006 campaign at Triple-A Portland and Peoria, the 6-foot-4, 200-pounder will be back on the 40-man roster for the second season in a row in 2007.
“I had a chance to go to training camp this year,” Wells said. “Growing up and getting to see some of these guys, and now I was throwing and catching with them. Guys like Mike Piazza, Trevor Hoffman — and Hoffman was the nicest. He was telling me it is not what you say, it is what you do. I was pretty nervous anyway, so I just watched and learned.”
Though he didn’t stick with the big league Padres, Wells was told he is close.
“They told me I wasn’t in their plans this year, but I was for the near future,” Wells said.
Born in Freeport, Wells entered the 2006 season ranked as the No. 7 prospect by Baseball America.
After graduating from Columbia in 2000, Wells took a football scholarship and headed to East Texas Baptist University. In the fifth game of the season, his world came tumbling down as he tore four ligaments on his knee.
“Our team doctor told me I wasn’t going to play anything anymore because of my knee,” Wells said. “I didn’t agree with his negative attitude, because sports have played a big part of my life. So I headed to Louisiana and had another surgeon take care of my knee.”
Wells wanted to continue playing sports, so he went for a tryout with the Tyler Roughnecks baseball team, a member of an independent league.
“I still wasn’t released by my doctor, but I knew I had a good arm and after throwing two pitches they wanted to sign me as their closer,” Wells said.
Instead he headed to Tyler Junior College for a year and entered the baseball draft in 2001. After getting drafted by San Diego, Wells said he had second thoughts because of a pending baseball strike.
Wells headed to San Jacinto Junior College and helped the Gators to the national championship game with a 13-2 mark and 2.75 ERA. San Jacinto didn’t win the championship, but Wells was drafted again by the Padres.
In 2004, Wells spent his time between Class A Fort Wayne and Lake Elsinore, where he compiled an 8-12 record. He finished the season with a 4.29 ERA and recorded 36 strikeouts in the month of May in just six appearances.
The following season he split his duties between Lake Elsinore, Calif., and Double-A Mobile, Ala. Wells wrapped the year 13-8 with a 3.68 ERA between the teams. He captured the California League ERA title with a 3.44.
Wells represented the United States in the 2005 World Cup in the Netherlands and helped defeat Spain 11-1. In six innings of work, he recorded nine strikeouts.
At the Padres postseason awards dinner that year, Wells was named the Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
“Never in my life did I think I’d be sitting in this position right now,” Wells said. “If I do my part and get out there and pitch, they have to put me up there. If not with them, then somebody else. I’d say by the middle of next season I should be in the bigs.”
Just home from the Arizona Fall League, Wells will spend a couple of months in Brazoria and is looking to stay busy.
“I’m going to give pitching lessons and do have a couple of students already,” Wells said. “I’d like to stay in San Diego, but to me it doesn’t matter. I just want to get on the mound.”
To sign up for pitching lessons, call Wells at (979) 798-1887.
Joel Luna is a sports writer for The Facts. He can be reached at (979) 237-0161 or at www.joel.luna(at)thefacts.com.
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