Mega Hunk Joe Mauer

[DaveW]

He's baaaaaccccckkk!!!!

[Craig Arko]

He's baaaaaccccckkk!!!!

Just like this guy.

 

[Monkeypaws]

Maybe Joe needs to refashion himself as a power hitter. Almost had a HR yesterday as well.

[USAFChief]

 

Maybe Joe needs to refashion himself as a power hitter. Almost had a HR yesterday as well.

Those almost count.

[Halsey Hall]

He quit trying to pull the ball and go back to his way of doing it, and it's working. 

[D. Hocking]

It is about time someone started a Mauer thread....

[Brock Beauchamp]

1.243 OPS over the past week, .837 over the past fortnight.

[twinsnorth49]

Mauer thread........Wait for it........

 

 

http://riverbankoftruth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/mob-torches.jpg

[tobi0040]

 

He quit trying to pull the ball and go back to his way of doing it, and it's working. 

 

Agreed.  However when I see the RF closer to CF than RF, I want him just once to pull the ball down the RF line and proceed to do the worm around the bases.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Agreed.  However when I see the RF closer to CF than RF, I want him just once to pull the ball down the RF line and proceed to do the worm around the bases.

Agreed. I wonder if this is Joe permanently altering approach by going back to his comfort zone or whether it's a longer process where he tried to pull the ball a lot, it didn't work, and now he's easing off on pull attempts but not giving up on the idea entirely.

 

Ultimately, we don't want Mauer to turn into a pull hitter, we want him to become a spray hitter. Perhaps this is part of that process.

 

There are so many variables with Joe Mauer right now that it's almost impossible to say. I hope he's not giving up on pulling the ball and this is a brief adjustment period to keep defenses guessing on what he's going to do in any given plate appearance. The goal isn't to change his approach in every PA, the goal is to add pull ability when it suits his purposes to improve all facets of his offensive game.

[Shane Wahl]

Anyone who doesn't think that Joe Mauer returning to 90% or so Joe Mauer form is a key element to the Twins success in 2015 and 2016 (at least) needs a head examination. The last two weeks are encouraging.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Anyone who doesn't think that Joe Mauer returning to 90% or so Joe Mauer form is a key element to the Twins success in 2015 and 2016 (at least) needs a head examination. The last two weeks are encouraging.

 

I agree it is a key to their success.....I don't know what 90% is. But it will be hard for them to succeed if he hits like a bottom 5 1B, and never tries to get the double play on grounders......I'm hoping that was just some weird fielding anomaly last week.

[Loosey]

Whether he is giving up pulling the ball or not I like what we have seen over the last week or so.  If he is giving up pulling the ball, I would much rather see him hit a few left field lasers that should be hits against a traditional shift, versus trying to pull 80% of the balls and rolling it over to 2nd base.  Basically,  I will take a .290 hitting opposite field hitting Mauer over a .250 hitting pull hitting Mauer. 

[jimmer]

 

Whether he is giving up pulling the ball or not I like what we have seen over the last week or so.  If he is giving up pulling the ball, I would much rather see him hit a few left field lasers that should be hits against a traditional shift, versus trying to pull 80% of the balls and rolling it over to 2nd base.  Basically,  I will take a .290 hitting opposite field hitting Mauer over a .250 hitting pull hitting Mauer. 

He has been going opposite field more and the results are nice to see.

[TheLeviathan]

 

He has been going opposite field more and the results are nice to see.

 

Is there a place you can isolate that kind of data like that or is this anecdotal?

[jimmer]

 

Is there a place you can isolate that kind of data like that or is this anecdotal?

I only know because about 6 weeks or so ago I looked and he had gone to LF much less than to center or RF.  before that, like the first month or so, it was even more extreme.  He barely went to LF at all.

 

Now his LF trajectory has just squeaked over his RF trajectory by 3 PA.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=mauerjo01&year=2015&t=b

[TheLeviathan]

 

I only know because about 6 weeks or so ago I looked and he had gone to LF much less than to center or RF.  before that, like the first month or so, it was even more extreme.  He barely went to LF at all.

 

Now his LF trajectory has just squeaked over his RF trajectory by 3 PA.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=mauerjo01&year=2015&t=b

 

Ok, I was just curious.  I've always wanted to find a place with a more adjustable spray chart, thanks.

[DaveW]

I wonder if them DHing him more lately (3 in last 9 games) has helped him a bit? Mauer isn't your typical 32 year old, he spent the first 12 years of his professional career as a catcher (a pretty tall and large one by standards) so the wear and tear is likely greater.

 

His BABIP is still really far down for him, but the most encouraging thing IMO is that 5 of his last 7 hits have been for doubles or greater. Small sample size no doubt, but it's about time we have something to be excited about for him!

[Thegrin]

With nobody on base, Mauer's slash line is .188 .224 .302 .526    UGLY !

With runners on base, his slash line is:  .      352 .458 .476 .934    Excellent.

 

What does this tell us ?   

 

 

[diehardtwinsfan]

that we need to get guys on base in front of him

[DocBauer]

OK...SOMEONE had to say it, right? Figured might as well be me. Leave it to our man Mauer to get the kiss of death from all if us folks here at TD and...well...from hitting like Drew Butera and half his daddy....and then suddenly splurge with a couple homers and some nice singles, a fee RBI, and suddenly he might what, actually have a pulse?

 

"It's alive! Alive!"

 

If doubt is what it takes, then let's all get dour and dark.

 

A quality second half last season. A solid start to this season. Then darkness and despair not even seen on Game of Thrones. And suddenly signs of life from the Mauer-Bruno-Molly Monster. Is it time to eat crow? How do you prepare your crow? Red, white or rose'? Or do you go a nice malted liquor with your crow?

[Blake]

Brian Dozier has 11 more home runs and a higher batting average, yet makes 18 million a year less.

 

Not even close to ready to eat crow.

[Mike Sixel]

He wasn't median at 1B for offense last year. He's worse this year.

 

Why would anyone eat crow?

[LaBombo]

 

He wasn't median at 1B for offense last year. He's worse this year.

 

Why would anyone eat crow?

 

Haven't said richard about Mauer's season-long funk myself so far this season, but would still be willing to eat at least one bite of crow-kabob if it would help him start hitting.

 

Speaking of which, Mauer is more up to his neck in funk than George Clinton in his Parliament days.  His sub-.700 OPS ranks ahead of only Napoli, Trumbo, and the porcelain Zimmerman among qualifiers.   And both Napoli and Trumbo will surpass him the moment either of their babips exceed their weights.

 

And that's before getting into the even more depressing picture of Mauer's per-dollar contribution to the offense, which is visible at this point only by squinting into an electron microscope.

 

Mauer has been my favorite Twin of the past decade and one my all-time favorites too, dating back to my hazy childhood memories of Calvin Griffith's baseball serf squad.  And on top of that, he's by pretty much all accounts a good guy and a good teammate.

 

None of that, however, has much to do with admitting to myself that he is, at this moment, a replacement-level player who is consuming a fifth of the Twins' payroll.  It's almost enough to make some fans hope, for his sake alone, that the Twins continue to spend below their supposed revenue/payroll ratio limit just to prevent Mauer from being viewed mostly as a salary cap penalty.