If you ask his former teammates, Vernon Wells still has a lot of baseball left in him.
Angels pitcher and former teammate of Wells, C.J. Wilson believes that despite struggling during his seasons in Los Angeles, the three-time All-Star can help the Yankees this year.
“Vernon is a great guy and a great player,” Wilson said while promoting Head and Shoulders’ latest charity campaign “Whiff-a-Thon.”
“He’s got a lot of baseball left in the tank and it will be interesting to see how he does because there is going to be a lot of playing time for him,” Wilson said.
One of the Yankees’ most recent acquisitions, Wells will be leaned on to provide a power bat in the middle of the lineup with Curtis Granderson on the mend.
Wells, who was traded to the Angels following the 2010 season, hit well in spring training, leading the Yankees to make a deal for the 34-year-old earlier this month.
Wells hit .310 with four home runs and 12 RBI in 42 plate appearances this spring.
“Vernon, he tried to be too much of a power hitter and it didn’t fit his natural swing,” Wilson said. “He had to kind of start all over again and that’s what he was doing this year in spring training, getting pretty good results.”
The former Gold Glove winning outfielder was a disappointment during his time with the Angels, hitting just .222 with 36 home runs and 95 RBI in 208 games between 2011 and 2012.
“The reality of being a baseball player is sometimes you try and do too much and it gets you away from what got you [to a certain level of success] in the first place,” Wilson said.
Wells became expendable this offseason after the Angels’ signing of Josh Hamilton to a five-year deal, Mike Trout having a breakout year in 2012 and having a wealth of outfield options.
“Josh is one of my best friends and a tremendous talent to watch,” Wilson said. “He’s a phenomenal player and it just makes it easy to have fun when you have a guy like him in the same lineup. Hamilton is a threat to hit 50 or 60 home runs each year.”
With the addition of Hamilton, the Angels figure to be one of the best offenses in all of baseball, but will have to live up to similar expectations that they failed to live up to last year after brining in Wilson and Albert Pujols via free-agency.
“We have to go out there and do it,” Wilson said. “If the pitching can go out there and do their job, the offense and defense is great. We had injury issues last year, ineffectiveness last year and guys were playing hurt.”
Wilson will be participating in the charity campaign being run by Head and Shoulders which will donate $1 to RBI for every strikeout that an MLB pitcher records this season.
“I’ve averaged about 180 strikeouts each season so I’ll contribute a little bit,” Wilson said. “The biggest thing I can do is help to create awareness. If I can get more people tweeting about the whiff, it’s more money for the RBI program.”
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com