Is Joe Mauer the Best Catcher of His Era?

[Cody Christie]

Catching is one of the most demanding positions in baseball, with players taking a beating behind the plate. Many catchers like Joe Mauer are forced to move to other positions before their careers end. So, how does Mauer rank compared to the other top catchers from his era?

Image courtesy of Brad Rempel, USA TODAY Sports

For many local fans, Joe Mauer’s Twins tenure was complicated because of various factors like injuries, his large contract, and his shift to first base. However, Mauer is seen in a different light at the national level, with many writers supporting his candidacy on the ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He is currently trending toward being inducted on the first ballot, but if he falls short, he will be elected in the coming years. 

Mauer played in an era with multiple catchers who put together Hall of Fame resumes. Like Mauer, Buster Posey was a high draft pick, and he helped the Giants win multiple World Series titles. Yadier Molina might be the best defensive catcher of all time while being part of multiple winning teams in St. Louis. So, how do these three catchers compare, and who is the best catcher of the era?

WAR
Wins Above Replacement has flaws, but it allows fans to understand how players compare from one era to the next. According to Baseball Reference, Mauer accumulated significantly more WAR than the other catcher counterparts from his era. Posey and Molina combined for similar totals, with Posey being slightly higher (44.8 compared to 42.3). Mauer was worth 55.2 WAR during his 15-year career, including five seasons where he posted a 5.5 WAR or higher. Nearly all of Mauer’s WAR value came on the offensive side with a 53.0 oWAR, while Molina was the significantly better defender (28.0 dWAR), but more on that later. 
WAR Ranking: 1. Mauer, 2. Posey, 3. Molina

JAWS
Jay Jaffe developed JAWS to measure a player’s Hall of Fame worthiness. A player’s JAWS is their career WAR averaged with their seven-year peak WAR. According to JAWS, Mauer ranks as the seventh-best catcher, Posey ranks 14th, and Molina ranks 22nd. Since Mauer already leads in total WAR, it makes sense for him to have a higher JAWS ranking. Mauer’s seven-year peak WAR ranks fifth among catchers, with his MVP season (7.8 WAR) helping his overall numbers. Posey ranks 10th in seven-year peak WAR, while Molina ranks 25th.    
JAWS Ranking: 1. Mauer, 2. Posey, 3. Molina

WPA
Win Probability Added is the change in probability caused by a batter during a game for an average team. A change of +/-1 would indicate one win added or lost due to the results of that player. For hitters, WPA can be tied to the opportunities allotted to that batter, but throughout a career, it can point to a player helping his team to win. Mauer’s 27.6 WPA is nearly ten wins higher than Posey's and 24.5 wins higher than Molina's. 
WPA Ranking: 1. Mauer, 2. Posey, 3. Molina

Weighted Runs Created +
According to MLB.com, wRC+ takes the statistic Runs Created and adjusts that number to account for critical external factors– like ballpark or era. It’s adjusted so that a league-average hitter would have a 100 wRC+, and 150 would be 50 percent above the league average. Mauer's time in the Metrodome hurts his overall numbers because it was a hitter-friendly environment. Posey played in San Francisco, which is less friendly to hitters. Overall, Posey finished with the highest wRC+ among this group (129), with Mauer not far behind (123). Molina ended his career with a 97 wRC+, which puts him slightly below the league average. 
wRC+ Ranking: 1. Posey, 2. Mauer, 3. Molina

Postseason Resume
Mauer’s postseason resume is significantly limited compared to the other two catchers because of his team’s inability to win a series during his career. Mauer played in 10 postseason games and went 11-for-40 (.275 BA) with one extra-base hit and a seven-to-four strikeout-to-walk ratio. Molina played in nearly 50 more playoff games than Posey and had superior offensive numbers. In 104 games, Molina’s OPS was 16 points higher while helping the Cardinals win two World Series titles. Posey gets the nod with the most World Series titles, but Molina ranks as the top postseason performer among this catching trio.
Postseason Resume Ranking: 1. Molina, 2. Posey, 3. Mauer

Defense
Baseball has two sides to the game, and defense must be considered when looking at all-time great players. Molina is one of the best defensive catchers in baseball history, and his defensive resume might be enough to get him elected to Cooperstown. He won nine Gold Gloves and four Platinum Gloves while posting a 28.0 dWAR. Mauer earned three Gold Gloves, with Posey only earning one Gold Glove as he was competing directly with Molina. Mauer and Posey tied by throwing out 33% of runners during their careers, but Posey had 232 more stolen base attempts against him. Molina threw out 40% of batters in his career, including leading MLB in CS% in four different seasons. 
Defense Ranking: 1. Molina, 2. Posey, 3. Mauer

Baseball has countless statistical areas to compare players, but there are some clear results among these three catchers. Jason Michalicek responded to me on X (formerly known as Twitter) with what I think is the best response. Mauer was the best offensively, Molina was the best defensively, and Posey was the most well-rounded in both areas. However, Mauer should be considered one of the best catchers ever.

How would you rank these players? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. 

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[AlwaysinModeration]

According to your ratings, and giving 3 for first, 2 for second and 1 for third, you have Mauer at 13, and Posey and Molina tied at 12.  So the answer to your question is evidently “yes.”

I would have liked to see Mauer play 50 postseason games.  Or 104.

[old nurse]

Pitch framing evidently is not important 

[Eris]

I would have included Ivan Rodriguez in the comparison as his career overlap with Mauer’s by 8 years. 

[jimbo92107]

The tragedy of Joe Mauer is that he should have been the best right fielder of the era, like Bryce Harper. Mauer's prolific bat might have grown into a homerun weapon if he'd had more time, and his rifle arm would have gunned down many runners foolish enough to try stretching a single into a double. Imagine Mauer's career without those damned concussions. He might even have skipped his first knee injury. He might  have had half a dozen more healthy years.

[tony&rodney]

I would say that Mauer was the best catcher of his era and if there was a vote of managers, scouts, and GMs across baseball where they could not vote for their own team's catcher, Mauer would receive a healthy majority of the votes. Think of it as picking a team. The consensus pick would definitely be Mauer.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Send these stats to all the HOF voters who have not voted yet. Great article Cody. Thank you.

[Dman]

Mauer was a great player from the moment he arrived at the MLB level.  His sweet Swing and great eye at the plate helped him to three batting titles.  His three gold gloves proved he wasn't just all bat. Still I was surprised in the end just how well he stacked up against Molina and especially Posey.  Sometimes I guess you just get spoiled by excellence and expect more from certain players.  I do wonder what Mauer's stats might have looked like without dealing with the concussions. It was a tough end to his career, but the M & M boys sure gave us some great years baseball. 

A catcher in this day and age with three batting titles and good defense not making the hall would have been odd considering catchers generally don't win batting titles and he won three.  Given the stats he deserves to get in and they might as well just get it over with by doing it on the first ballot.

I enjoyed watching the hometown kid play for my favorite team and to see him get elected to the Hall should make all of Minnesota proud.

[DJL44]

dWAR is not measuring defense. If I was a teacher I would redline everywhere you mentioned dWAR and send it back to get revised. It's a common mistake that I see so often that I wish they would stop listing dWAR in their statistics.

[sweetmusicviola16]

Stats can be a lot of fun I agree. But with baseball there is just the little things that go beyond stats. Going beyond just stats, I'll take Molina as my Catcher. Anyday and pretty much over anyone aside from Johnny Bench.

[sweetmusicviola16]

Not saying anything against Mauer. He was a great player. But a pure catcher give me Molina.

[AlwaysinModeration]

51 minutes ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Send these stats to all the HOF voters who have not voted yet. Great article Cody. Thank you.

All of the HOF voters who have not voted yet will be able to do so when the 2025 ballots are mailed out at the end of the year.  Joe Mauer may or may not be on that ballot.

[DJL44]

3 minutes ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

Not saying anything against Mauer. He was a great player. But a pure catcher give me Molina.

Molina is so underrated he's overrated

[JD-TWINS]

Big Mauer fan - debated with a Giant’s fan over this topic on Facebook a couple weeks ago. The reality of injuries are what they ate for all players but Posey did miss a season’s worth of games due to knee injury (collision at home) & he sat a season during Covid…….another 700 PA’s and he would be even a more formidable offensive comparison with Mauer!

[JD-TWINS]

4 minutes ago, AlwaysinModeration said:

All of the HOF voters who have not voted yet will be able to do so when the 2025 ballots are mailed out at the end of the year.  Joe Mauer may or may not be on that ballot.

If he isn’t on that ballot it will be because he’s already been enshrined - right?

[AlwaysinModeration]

2 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

If he isn’t on that ballot it will be because he’s already been enshrined - right?

Well, that, or if he pulls a Pete Rose.

[stringer bell]

Without looking at stats, I would have picked Posey. With the numbers presented, it is a really tough call. I don't think there's any question now that all three guys will be in the Hall of Fame. I wish the Twins had had more success in post season, which is one area where Mauer falls quite a bit short of the other two.

[Morland]

Regarding the so called objections to Joe Mauer from Twins fans: speaking as Twins fan, I'll guarantee you this. If you invited Joe Mauer fans to a free celebration of Mauer after he's elected to the Hall of Fame, there would not be enough seats in the largest stadium in the world to hold them. If you invited all of Mauer's detractors to Target Stadium to unleash their negative feelings about him, it would look like the team was holding batting practice. In other words, his critics number a few hundred at most, they're just more vocal than the rest of us. And more jealous!

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, JD-TWINS said:

Posey did miss a season’s worth of games due to knee injury

So did Mauer

[Parfigliano]

1 hour ago, AlwaysinModeration said:

Well, that, or if he pulls a Pete Rose.

I cant see Mauer even playing $1 limit poker with friends.

[WinTwins162]

Watching Molina behind the plate was always a joy. You knew he was there and he always seemed totally in command of the game. The fact that he played his whole 18 year career as catcher is amazing, especially in light of Mauer's injuries.

To me, Posey is best known for post-season victories. Nothing wrong with that, it's the point of the game. However, I am not sure the same day-to-day.

No one doubts Mauer's greatness and he belongs in the HOF, first ballot would be great. But if I was picking a catcher for my team, I'd probably say: Molina, Mauer, Posey.

[DJL44]

12 minutes ago, WinTwins162 said:

No one doubts Mauer's greatness and he belongs in the HOF, first ballot would be great. But if I was picking a catcher for my team, I'd probably say: Molina, Mauer, Posey.

There is no way Molina's defense could make up for the gap in offense between him and Mauer or Posey. He'd have to be more responsible for run prevention than the pitchers and fielders.

[Heistyman]

Seems like a silly question, of course he's the best.  He did things no one else ever did.

[arby58]

4 hours ago, jimbo92107 said:

The tragedy of Joe Mauer is that he should have been the best right fielder of the era, like Bryce Harper. Mauer's prolific bat might have grown into a homerun weapon if he'd had more time, and his rifle arm would have gunned down many runners foolish enough to try stretching a single into a double. Imagine Mauer's career without those damned concussions. He might even have skipped his first knee injury. He might  have had half a dozen more healthy years.

There is no general manager who, based on Mauer's performance behind the plate, would have contemplated moving him to right field 'just in case there are concussion issues.' The comparative advantage that Mauer offered as a decent defensive catcher and an awesome offensive one are far greater than would have been the case as a decent offensive and defensive right fielder. Besides, injuries happen at every position - and even while running the bases (hello, Justin Morneau).

There is no 'tragedy of Joe Mauer' any more than there is the 'tragedy of Dale Murphy' (a dominant OUTFIELDER whose career was cut short by injuries). If we want to talk tragedies, we should talk Thurman Munson, or Roberto Clemente, or Lyman Bostock.

[Rod Carews Birthday]

I do think that Mauer was the best catcher of his generation.  The numbers bear it out, and in the case of catchers, even the career numbers.  His lack of postseason experience isn’t remotely his fault.  By that definition, Rod Carew wasn’t very good either (I know he had more, but not a ton).  I think it is definitely nitpicking to declare a guy with three gold gloves to be average behind the plate. Yes, Molina was a better defensive receiver, but how much better would he have to be to make up for the offensive differences?

I live in (near) Chicago, and when Harold Baines candidacy was being presented, the fans there lauded him like he was the second coming of Roberto Clemente.  Baines is certainly a lesser candidate than Mauer, and yet we as Twins fans can’t seem to get all the way behind him.  

[Jerr]

5 hours ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Send these stats to all the HOF voters who have not voted yet. Great article Cody. Thank you.

But, they all have voted and just not released their votes.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, arby58 said:

There is no 'tragedy of Joe Mauer' any more than there is the 'tragedy of Dale Murphy' (a dominant OUTFIELDER whose career was cut short by injuries). If we want to talk tragedies, we should talk Thurman Munson, or Roberto Clemente, or Lyman Bostock.

I like this take. There are very few players who had everything go right for them during their career. Mantle had the knee injury. Williams and Mays spent time in military service. Griffey Jr. tore his hamstring. Nearly everyone has challenges to overcome.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

5 hours ago, Jerr said:

But, they all have voted and just not released their votes.

Oh good grief. I didn't know that. Thanks.