Joe Mauer's Crazy Season

[Nick Nelson]

Mauer's season thus far has been pretty interesting. He started out on an insane tear, hitting .393/.439/.574 through his first 14 games. Then he went through the worst slump of his career, with a string of 20 straight hitless plate appearances. Since then, he's gone on a 12-game hitting streak while batting .464 in May.

 

Overall, he's hitting .341 despite the fact that he's striking out at a 21 percent rate -- about twice his career norm. Oh, and he's on pace to hit 71 doubles.

[70charger]

The strikeouts are worrisome, but he's hitting doubles like it's going out of style. Frankly, I don't know what to think, but if he's normalizing at a .341 average, I'm not in a position to complain.

[jokin]

Hate to say it, but he's due for some regression. The curious slump and the K rate are a bit alarming and his BABIP is totally unsustainable at around .435, some 85+ points higher than his career BABIP and 70 points higher than in 2012. On a positive note, his more frequent doubles are coming on fly balls and line drives and not ground balls. LD% and FB% are at career highs and his GB% is at a career low. He will need to improve his BB% and K% numbers or he will see a drop off in his BA and OBP at some point- perhaps his SLG will not drop and he can end up around .500, second only to his 2009 year in that category.

[snepp]

Hopefully when his BABIP drops he cuts his strikeout rate at the same time, putting more balls into play to make up for it.

[Pius Jefferson]

More balls in play are likely going to lead to more double plays. Mauer had a horrible time with double plays the first part of 2012. Second half he cut dramatically down and his K rate went up. This years he's only hit into one and his K rate is horrible for the type of hitter Joe Mauer is.

[Joe A. Preusser]

I just naturally assumed he was trying to drive the ball more this year and that resulted in more doubles and strikeouts? His doubles this year seem much more powerful than in the past. How much actual average does the 70 points of BABIP equate to? Can't be much more than 30 right? Which would still put him at .314. At any rate, I think pitchers will adjust and we'll go back to seeing a 5-5 day with 5 singles

[ThePuck]

he might be trying to become the batter everyone harps on him to be instead of the hitter he is. In any event, he's having a very good season.

[gunnarthor]

The Twins single season doubles record is 47, held by Morneau. The franchise record, counting the Washington days, is 51 by Mickey Vernon, an underrated but "professional" hitter. Would be nice to see Mauer break that record.

 

But I don't think he has any more games at Fenway.

[ThePuck]

well, he just had 4 in a 3 games series at home...

[snepp]

The Twins single season doubles record is 47, held by Morneau. The franchise record, counting the Washington days, is 51 by Mickey Vernon, an underrated but "professional" hitter. Would be nice to see Mauer break that record.

 

 

Knoblauch's '94 is easily tops in my book.

[IdahoPilgrim]

Hate to say it, but he's due for some regression. The curious slump and the K rate are a bit alarming and his BABIP is totally unsustainable at around .435, some 85+ points higher than his career BABIP and 70 points higher than in 2012. On a positive note, his more frequent doubles are coming on fly balls and line drives and not ground balls. LD% and FB% are at career highs and his GB% is at a career low. He will need to improve his BB% and K% numbers or he will see a drop off in his BA and OBP at some point- perhaps his SLG will not drop and he can end up around .500, second only to his 2009 year in that category.

 

This reminds me of the alphabet soup my mother used to make me as a kid.

 

Does this translate, in everyday language, to "He's going to cool down a bit in the future, but he's driving the ball better. He needs to work more walks and reduce the strikeouts, but at least he is hitting for more power this year."?

 

If so, I concur.