Age: 26 (April 19)
6th season
with Twins
Bats – Left,
Throws – Right
Height: 6’5” Weight: 225
Prior to 2009:
A native of St.
Paul, Minnesota, Mauer was a product of that city’s baseball youth leagues who grew
up as a Twins fan. He starred in football (where he was an excellent
quarterback) as well as baseball at Cretin-Derham Hall High School. In 1999 at
age 16 he was selected to an international youth baseball team that won a Gold
medal in Taiwan. In his senior year Mauer batted .600 with 15
home runs and 53 RBIs. Recruited by colleges to play football, the strong-armed
catcher was chosen first overall by the Twins in the 2001 amateur draft.
Signing with his hometown team for $5 million, the 18-year-old was first
assigned to Elizabethton of the Rookie-level Appalachian League where he hit
.400 in 32 games. Moving on to Quad City of the Class A Midwest League in 2002
he batted .302 with 4 home runs and 62 RBIs until he went down with a hernia
injury in August that required surgery. He was still named to the league’s
All-Star team and was also chosen as Prospect of the Year. Mauer spent 2003
with teams at the high Class A and AA levels and hit a combined .338 with 5
home runs and 85 RBIs. In 2004 he moved up to the Twins, who had traded
starting catcher A.J. Pierzynski, thus creating a spot in the lineup for him.
Mauer injured his left knee and his rookie season was cut short in July after
he had batted .308 with 6 home runs and 17 RBIs. Healthy in 2005, he hit .294
with 9 home runs and 55 RBIs. He won his first batting title in 2006 (the first
AL catcher to do so), with a .347 average to go along with 13 home runs and 84
RBIs. He finished sixth in league MVP voting and was an All-Star for the first
time. Dealing with a left quadriceps injury in 2007 Mauer’s production dropped
to .293 with 7 home runs and 60 RBIs while he appeared in just 109 games. He
rebounded in 2008 with 9 home runs, 85 RBIs, and a .328 average, which gained
him another AL batting championship. In the offseason Mauer had kidney surgery
which, combined with a back injury, caused him to spend April of the 2009
season on the Disabled List. Healthy upon his return to action, he began to hit
for power in addition to his ability to hit to all fields. Defensively he had
proven to be an able handler of pitchers as well as skillful behind the plate.
2009 Season Summary
Appeared in 138
games
C – 109, DH – 28,
PH – 5
[Bracketed
numbers indicate AL rank in Top 20]
Batting
Plate
Appearances – 606
At Bats – 523
Runs – 94 [18,
tied with Nick Markakis & Jacoby Ellsbury]
Hits – 191 [6]
Doubles – 30
Triples – 1
Home Runs – 28 [17,
tied with four others]
RBI – 96 [16,
tied with Jose Lopez]
Bases on Balls
– 76 [14]
Int. BB – 14 [2,
tied with Miguel Cabrera]
Strikeouts – 63
Stolen Bases – 4
Caught Stealing
– 1
Average - .365
[1]
OBP - .444 [1]
Slugging Pct. -
.587 [1]
Total Bases – 307
[7, tied with Evan Longoria]
GDP – 13
Hit by Pitches
– 2
Sac Hits – 0
Sac Flies – 5
League-leading batting
average was +.013 ahead of runner-up Ichiro Suzuki
League-leading
OBP was +.031 ahead of runner-up Kevin Youkilis
League-leading
slugging pct was +.018 ahead of runner-up Kendrys Morales
Midseason
snapshot: HR - 15, RBI - 49, AVG - .373, OBP - .447, SLG - .622
---
Most hits, game
– 4 (in 6 AB) vs. Kansas City 5/2, (in 4 AB) vs. Pittsburgh 6/16, (in 5 AB) at
Detroit 8/7
Longest hitting
streak – 15 games
HR at home – 16
HR on road – 12
Most home runs,
game – 2 (in 4 AB) at LA Angels 7/24, (in 5 AB) at Texas 8/18
Multi-HR games
– 2
Most RBIs, game
– 6 at Chi. White Sox 5/21
Pinch-hitting –
3 of 5 AB (.600) with 1 HR & 3 RBI
Fielding
Chances - 758
Put Outs – 724
Assists – 31
Errors – 3
DP – 3
Pct. - .996
Postseason: 3 G
(ALDS vs. NY Yankees)
PA – 14, AB – 12,
R – 1, H – 5, 2B – 1,3B – 0, HR – 0, RBI – 1, BB – 2, IBB – 0, SO – 4, SB – 0, CS
– 0, AVG - .417, OBP - .500, SLG -.500, TB – 6, GDP – 0, HBP – 0, SH – 0, SF –
0
Awards & Honors:
AL MVP: BBWAA
Gold Glove
Silver Slugger
All-Star (Started
for AL at C)
Top 5 in AL MVP
Voting:
Joe Mauer, Min.:
387 pts. - 27 of 28 first place votes, 99% share
Mark Teixeira,
NYY: 225 pts. – 57% share
Derek Jeter,
NYY: 193 pts. – 49% share
Miguel Cabrera,
Det.: 171 pts. – 1 first place vote, 44% share
Kendrys
Morales, LAA: 170 pts. – 43% share
---
Twins went 86-76
to finish tied for first in the AL Central Division with the Detroit Tigers,
which necessitated a season-extending single-game playoff, won by the Twins,
who topped the AL Central with a final record of 87-76. With the Tigers in
front by 7 games in early September, the Twins closed out the season at 20-11
to grab a share of first place and force the climactic playoff. Lost ALDS to
the New York Yankees, 3 games to 0.
Aftermath of ‘09:
In the spring
of 2010 Mauer signed an eight-year contract extension to remain with the Twins
and went on to bat .327 with lesser totals of 9 home runs and 75 RBIs. Beset
with a leg injury in 2011, he was limited to 82 games and ended up hitting .287
with 3 home runs and 30 RBIs. He also appeared at first base for the first
time. Mauer returned with a strong 2012 season in which he hit .319 with 10
home runs and 85 RBIs, and thanks to drawing 90 walks he led the AL with a .416
on-base percentage. He was solid again in 2013 as he batted .324 with 11 home
runs and 47 RBIs in a season cut short by injuries. Mauer moved from catcher to
first base in 2014 due to the effects of concussions and other wear and tear
while playing catcher, and while again hindered by injuries, he hit .277 with 4
home runs and 55 RBIs. His average dropped to .265 in 2015 while he homered 10
times and drove in 66 RBIs while appearing in 158 games. He remained with the
Twins through 2018, after which he retired. For his career, Mauer batted .306
with 2123 hits that included 428 doubles, 30 triples, and 143 home runs. He
scored 1018 runs and further compiled 923 RBIs and 939 walks. In ten postseason
games he hit .275 with one RBI. A six-time All-Star, he also was awarded three
Gold Gloves (all as a catcher) and five Silver Sluggers. The Twins retired his
#7.
--
MVP Profiles feature players in the National or
American leagues who were winners of the Chalmers Award (1911-14), League Award
(1922-29), or Baseball Writers’ Association of America Award (1931 to present)
as Most Valuable Player.
No comments:
Post a Comment