Article: For The Love Of Joe

[ewen21]

 

Funny, I always compare Mattingly to Hrbek....

Really?  He's more in line with Oliva, imo

[Mike Sixel]

 

Really?  He's more in line with Oliva, imo

 

Pull up Fangraphs and compare the two. Very similar. Had Hrbek decided to keep playing another couple years, I would bet their WAR would be nearly identical. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

Funny, I always compare Mattingly to Hrbek....

Ding ding ding. They were basically the same player.

 

Good average, good discipline, good power, good defense at a non-premium position. Both suffered career ending health issues too early, though Mattingly gets sympathy points for not eating himself out of the game.

 

Mattingly:

PA: 7722

Slash: .307 .358 .471 .830

OPS+: 127

rWAR: 42.2

 

Hrbek:

PA: 7137

Slash: .282 .367 .481 .848

OPS+: 128

rWAR: 38.4

 

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

I think Mauer was a better player than Mattingly. Though having some similarities,does it matter Mauer has 6 more WAR in 1000 less PAs and will likely end up with 10+ WAR more than Mattingly does?

Mauer is absolutely a better player than Mattingly, if only because he played good defense at the hardest position on the diamond, not the easiest.

 

As for offense, if Mauer was a first basemen from day one, he has hundreds of more PAs at this point in his career. Maybe even 1,000. Maybe even more because of the concussion.

 

Mauer crossed 600 PAs only four times while he was a starting catcher. Mattingly crossed 600 PAs five times through his age 30 season and 700 PAs twice. Add up those 50-70 PAs over a decade and you have nearly one full season that Joe didn't play and not because he was injured, but because he played the hardest position on the field.

[ashbury]

Mauer is absolutely a better player than Mattingly, if only because he played good defense at the hardest position on the diamond, not the easiest.

It's not unreasonable to compare the two, starting with their batting lines and then trying to factor in their defense, but the latter step is so hard to perform.

 

That's why I prefer the Banks comparison. Two guys at premium positions who switched to 1B mid-career, with pretty similar offensive stats relative to their eras, and with longevity the only X factor at present.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

It's not unreasonable to compare the two, starting with their batting lines and then trying to factor in their defense, but the latter step is so hard to perform.

 

That's why I prefer the Banks comparison. Two guys at premium positions who switched to 1B mid-career, with pretty similar offensive stats relative to their eras, and with longevity the only X factor at present.

I think Banks is an interesting comparison. 1100 games at short, then another 1200 at first with diminished offensive performance. There's a good chance Mauer ends up with a similar split, though lower numbers all around (currently with 900 games at catcher, should end season close to 400 at first base).