Article: What Happened To Joe Mauer?

[ND-Fan]

I think there are many things that were going on for Joe Mauer last year and past several years. First I am thinking that concussion may have effected him more than people realized and case in point is Justin Morneau it took him several years to recover from the concussions. Its not something that you can see that's effecting a player but it shows up in his performance. Also last year he was starting to hit much better and oblique injury happened and I think that also effected his bat after that. Also another thing I think that may have effected him is his personal life and changes he has had last two years. First getting married changes your routine and priorities right away and it takes time to get priorities back to your job. Then add in having twins last year and shakes up routines and priorities again for preparing yourself for baseball. I am betting this year things improve for him with  another year away from the concussion, another year married and the twins are older and he's seen decline in his performance which I believe will motivate him to return to his career norms. I can hear all of you shouldn't effect him with what he is being paid but it does he just human.

[JB_Iowa]

 

Sano and Vargas make Mauer look like a boy.

 

No power?  No wonder.  Not that Joe doesn't look  ripped.

 

[Brock Beauchamp]

Joe looks seriously ripped in that photo. Did he step up his offseason routine or is it just the shirt?

[JB_Iowa]

Sorry, I should have said its a 2014 photo.

[Parker Hageman]

The information I found very interesting was when pitchers changed speeds on back-to-back pitches. My initial thought was that it sounded like a possible concussion-related thing. I would think picking up spin and depth perception and all that could be affected by a concussion. That one spoke volumes to me.

 

 

 

Interesting notion, Seth. Went to check those numbers against Morneau and Span following their concussion seasons to see if there may be something to it. Check out their BA performances in those changing speed scenarios:

 

Obviously this was just a rough-and-tough view of the data -- and batting average and the sample size is extremely volatile -- but considering the rapid drop the season after their concussions (aside from Span's jump in performances against changeups following fastballs), it is not entirely implausible to think that the brain injury is effecting the ability to track that kind of speed decline. 

 

If I were a baseball team, I would probably want to research that further and more in-depth. 

[tobi0040]

Joe looks seriously ripped in that photo. Did he step up his offseason routine or is it just the shirt?

If all I need is a shirt, where did he get it?