Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
Joe Mauer has done everything he can to singlehandedly kill spring training as we know it.
Everyone else needs seven or eight weeks to get ready. But this guy gets 15 at-bats in minor-league camp, another 15 in Class A, and then shows up in the majors and hits .500 his first 10 games.
"Everyone keeps asking me what's going on," Mauer told FanHouse. "I really don't have any answer for that."
Well, it helps to be the best young pure hitter in the game.
Mauer missed all of Minnesota's spring training with an an inflamed joint in his lower back, which followed offseason surgery to remove a kidney obstruction. But all he needed was a week in extended spring training and five games in the Florida State League.
"It's tough to imagine being able to get 30 or 40 at-bats in the spring, five or six games, and just step right in and do what he's done," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "I don't know how to describe it. It's uncanny."
Mauer came off the DL on May 1 and homered in his first at-bat. On Minnesota's homestand last week he was 10-for-23 (.435) with three homers and 10 RBI.
"He looked absolutely awesome, absolutely awesome," said a scout who watched those games in person.
"Mauer just stood out. He put the barrel of the bat on the ball every time. He' s never off-balance. He didn't put a bad swing on the ball."
That's not unusual. At 26, Mauer already has two batting titles, the only two by a catcher in the past 65 years. His .320 career average is highest ever for someone who has caught at least 500 games (slightly better than Mickey Cochrane).
Mike Redmond, Mauer's backup, said that Mauer's swing, built to "stay inside the ball" and go the other way, helps him be productive as a catcher.
"When he gets tired, he can still take that ball and slap it to left," Redmond said. "He can hit the ball up the middle. He can walk three times in a game if he wants to. So days when he can get tired he can go out there, and even when he's not feeling good, draw two walks. And you're going to have days where you take a ball of the wrist and can't feel the bat or take a ball off the hand or your hand is sore from catching. "
But the missed month, and some other injuries – knee in 2004, quadriceps in 2006 – might make another team consider moving a productive catcher out from behind the dish, to keep him healthy.
The Twins have no such thoughts.
"He's the best catcher in the game," Gardenhire said. "So you weaken your team when you take him out. He calls a good game, he controls the running game, he's got a cannon [arm]. If you want to put him somewhere else, it's going to weaken your team behind the plate, because you just won't find a better catcher.
"Moving him is really not an option right now. First, the player has to be willing to move, and I know he won't move."
The scout said Mauer "right now, absolutely" should remain a catcher.
"The only question I would have about moving him from behind the plate is if this back thing started to become a chronic issue," the scout said. "As far as him being able to do it – move around behind the plate, handle pitchers – yes."
Mauer points out that the kidney obstruction would have happened whether he was catching or playing left field.
"I just turned 26," he said, "so I'm still relatively young in this game, I guess. I guess that thought [of whether catching was affecting his health] had crossed my mind. But looking back on it now, I don't think catching really had anything to do with it."
Also, this isn't like thinking about changing Mike Piazza's position. Mauer is a good catcher, earning the AL Gold Glove last season.
"He's worked really hard to learn the pitching aspect and the defensive side of the game," Redmond said. "For me to watch him over the last four years, to see him win a Gold Glove maybe was the most impressive thing.
"For him to solidify himself with that Gold Glove takes him to that next level."
Mauer's height is unusual for a catcher; according to baseball-reference.com, he is just the fourth 6-foot-5 player to catch 500 games (none have been listed as taller).
"Ever since I was drafted I think everybody knew I could hit a little bit," Mauer said, modestly. "So I really wanted to work hard on the defensive side."
So for now, Gardenhire's plan is to give Mauer a little more rest. Gardenhire likes to use Mauer as the DH on the days Redmond catches – and Minnesota is carrying three catchers for now, making that more feasible – but Gardenhire also knows he will have to force himself to just sit Mauer at times to keep him healthy.
"It's really tough to take him out of the lineup," Gardenhire said, practically talking himself into it. "But he's going to miss some games. He's going to miss some games. He's going to miss more this year than he did last year. ... I think he was beat up at the end.
"We'll give him breaks. It's just hard to do, to find the right time. But we'll find them. It's tough, but you've got to do it. It's going to happen."
As far as Redmond is concerned, he has a selfish reason to keep Mauer catching.
"I want to see how many years he can go, keep up this pace," Redmond said. "Because it could be something very special. He has that ability, those tools, to be one of the best catchers to play ever."
Overheard and Understood
• Center fielder Cameron Maybin, sent down from Florida to Triple-A with a .202 average and 31 strikeouts in 84 at-bats, would be better off working out his problems in the majors, according to a scout who saw him in the Pacific Coast League. " I think he's proven that he's better than this league. I think [the majors] is where he's got to be to figure it out."
• How good a job has Tony La Russa done? His Cardinals are carrying seven rookies and have used four others this season. Rookies are responsible for 27 percent of St. Louis' at-bats this season.
• When Pittsburgh visits Chicago on May 25, it will be the 400th night game in the history of Wrigley Field. The Cubs are 212-187 so far in home night games.
• Some thought highly touted catcher Matt Wieters would come up as soon as the Orioles could be sure he wouldn't be eligible for arbitration after 2011. But a person who has worked with Andy MacPhail said Baltimore's president of baseball operations seems more likely to promote prospects who have put in time and earned it – meaning Wieters may have to wait a while. Likewise, the Red Sox seem willing to wait for an opening for Clay Buchholz (1.03 ERA at Triple-A, 16 hits allowed in 35 innings) instead of forcing someone out of the rotation to make room. Boston is encouraged because Buchholz's success is based on command, which means he can should he able to repeat it in the majors.
Meanwhile, if recently called-up Nolan Reimold can stick with Baltimore, the Orioles will have the best collection of outfield arms in the majors with him, Adam Jones and Nick Markakis.
| Chart of the Week | |
|---|---|
| New Arizona manager A.J. Hinch is one of 12 former catchers managing in the majors. Fredi Gonzalez (Florida), Jim Leyland (Detroit) and Joe Maddon (Tampa Bay) never played in the majors; the others: | |
| Manager, Team | G caught in majors |
| Scioscia, Angels |
1,395 |
| Girardi, Yankees | 1,247 |
| Torre, Dodgers |
903 |
| Hinch, D-backs |
338 |
| Bochy, Giants |
298 |
| Geren, A's |
289 |
| Hurdle, Rockies |
22 |
| Wakamatsu, Mariners |
18 |
| Wedge, Indians |
6 |
| Note: Hurdle was primarily an outfielder but caught some in 1985-86. | |
• The Yankees aren't sure their new ballpark is a launching pad. After a record 26 homers in the first seven games at the new Yankee Stadium, there were 21 in the eight games on the second homestand. Team chief operating officer Lonn Trost said meteorological studies showed that "the winds we were having [in the opening homestand] were the least likely winds to occur."
• Texas' Matt Harrison has 13 wins in just 22 career starts. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no lefty had done that since Vean Gregg of the 1911 Indians, who had 16 wins after 22 games.
• The White Sox have used seven different leadoff hitters.
• The Nationals are 8-4 in games started by rookies Shairon Martis and Jordan Zimmerman and 3-20 in their other 23 games.
• Akron, Cleveland's Double-A affiliate, is 25-8. The Aeros have done it mostly with pitching, compiling a 2.95 ERA as a team.
• The hottest player in the minors could be Hector Noesi, a right-hander with the Yankees' Class A team in Charleston, S.C. Noesi, 22, has a 0.00 ERA through 27 1/3 innings, with 35 strikeouts, three walks and 11 hits allowed. Noesi made six relief appearances before becoming a starter.
• The Phillies have made just 11 errors, leading to only two unearned runs all year.
• Detroit ace Justin Verlander has three straight games with 11 or more strikeouts; that was last done by Randy Johnson in 2004 (four in a row). Verlander's next start is scheduled for Wednesday at Texas.
• Atlanta on Friday began a stretch of 42 straight non-division games. The Braves are 12-10 against the NL East but don't play a division team again until June 30.
• Athletics catcher Kurt Suzuki and his wife, Renee, attended Cal State Fullerton with Jon Wilhite, the survivor of the car crash that killed Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart. To help Wilhite's rehabilitation from surgery to reattach his skull and spinal column, the Suzukis are raising funds, including an online memorabilia auction next month at oaklandathletics.com.
