Minnesota Twins' Joe Mauer is the Greatest Power-Hitting Catcher in Team History

[SoCalTwinsfan]

I looked at how Mauer's power numbers rank among all catchers in Twins history and beyond.

 

Mauer has hit 102 home runs in his career, 88 of them as a catcher. Earl Battey had 75 home runs as a catcher for the Twins and Tim Laudner had 74. No other player had more than 50 home runs as a catcher for the Twins.

In fact, only 13 players have hit more home runs as a Twin than Mauer, no matter what their position.

 

 

You can read the rest of Minnesota Twins' Joe Mauer is the Greatest Power-Hitting Catcher in Team History at Yahoo! Sports.

 

Is Mauer's power underrated? Is he still overpaid?

[LoganJones]

Of course, Laudner had his 74 HR in 2116 PA. Mauer has 3825 PA and 14 more home runs, so no. Even Battey got to his number in 700 fewer PAs. Mayer is not the greatest power hitting catcher if you consider HR as your litmus. He's not overpaid in the sense of how does he compare to his peers and how they are paid, no.

[ThePuck]

Of course, Laudner had his 74 HR in 2116 PA. Mauer has 3825 PA and 14 more home runs, so no. Even Battey got to his number in 700 fewer PAs. Mayer is not the greatest power hitting catcher if you consider HR as your litmus. He's not overpaid in the sense of how does he compare to his peers and how they are paid, no.

 

Laudner had 77 HR, not 74 and Mauer has 25 more HRs than Laudner, not 14 more.

 

I'm pretty sure if he meant home run hitter he would have said that instead of power hitter. Mauer also has almost 3 times as many doubles as Laudner and 4 times as many triples.

[DaveW]

Mauer is the 2nd best hitting catcher in the history of baseball.

[70charger]

Mauer is the 2nd best hitting catcher in the history of baseball.

 

Piazza?

 

I'd say that's pretty good company.

[Vervehound]

Piazza?

 

I'd say that's pretty good company.

 

anyone ever heard of johnny bench?

[70charger]

anyone ever heard of johnny bench?

 

Sure, big fan. I have his autograph, actually. But Piazza's career OPS was more than .100 points higher. Johnny Bench was great, and a true hall of famer, but I don't think he's in quite the same offensive class as Piazza.

 

Besides, Joe Mauer's numbers look better than Bench's, albeit in fewer seasons. If Joe Mauer can stay roughly consistent for another five years (and lets' face it, we're not too worried about Joe's consistency), he'll also graduate to another offensive class and leave Johnny Bench behind.

[fairweather]

Mauer fans = LAME

[ThePuck]

Mauer fans = LAME

 

Yes, it's quite lame to like the best player on your favorite team.

 

Here's your sign.

[drunksam]

It will be a sweet day when the Twins retire Greg Gagne's number.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Sure, big fan. I have his autograph, actually. But Piazza's career OPS was more than .100 points higher. Johnny Bench was great, and a true hall of famer, but I don't think he's in quite the same offensive class as Piazza.

 

Besides, Joe Mauer's numbers look better than Bench's, albeit in fewer seasons. If Joe Mauer can stay roughly consistent for another five years (and lets' face it, we're not too worried about Joe's consistency), he'll also graduate to another offensive class and leave Johnny Bench behind.

 

It's a mistake to use straight OPS when comparing players of different eras. Sure, Piazza was an offensive monster. So was everybody else in that era and many of them played in smaller ballparks, to boot.

 

Career OPS+:

Piazza: 143

Bench: 126

Mauer: 136

 

Piazza is still tops but the gap narrows quite a bit once you adjust for park and league.

[Cody Christie]

It will be fun to see where Mauer's numbers end up at the end of his career.

 

Twins fans are lucky to get to watch him on a daily basis.

[jm3319]

It will be fun to see where Mauer's numbers end up at the end of his career.

 

Twins fans are lucky to get to watch him on a daily basis.

 

Except for the idiots who only care that he makes $23M/year and hate him for it. Too concerned with money to enjoy what a great player he is. Their loss.

[DaveW]

Mauer > Bench

[DaveW]

It's a mistake to use straight OPS when comparing players of different eras. Sure, Piazza was an offensive monster. So was everybody else in that era and many of them played in smaller ballparks, to boot.

 

Career OPS+:

Piazza: 143

Bench: 126

Mauer: 136

 

Piazza is still tops but the gap narrows quite a bit once you adjust for park and league.

 

Piazza is in a class of his own to be honest, 4 years of 1.000 + OPS and another 7 of .900+ OPS. Also for as much **** as he got of his defense, he was a life time 1.0 defensive WAR back there.

[DaveW]

Also how the hell does defensive WAR work for a catcher? Mauer is not playing a ton of games behind the plate this year and already is on pace for by far his best defensive season of all time, that just doesn't seem right to me to be honest and perhaps the eyeball test is the true way to measure a catcher defensively.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Also how the hell does defensive WAR work for a catcher? Mauer is not playing a ton of games behind the plate this year and already is on pace for by far his best defensive season of all time, that just doesn't seem right to me to be honest and perhaps the eyeball test is the true way to measure a catcher defensively.

 

I haven't seen anything that makes me believe catcher WAR is worth a damn.

[Brock Beauchamp]

On the topic of catchers, I was thinking "man, Pudge (I-Rod Pudge) was so good for so long" and then I looked at his stat line.

 

Yikes. His offense fell off a cliff after his age 32 season. I knew it dropped a lot but I had no idea it dropped that low that quickly. He went from a 137 OPS+ in his age 32 season to never cracking 100 again in his career.

[SoCalTwinsfan]

Laudner had 77 HR, not 74 and Mauer has 25 more HRs than Laudner, not 14 more.

 

I looked strictly at home runs as a catcher. Mauer has 88 as a catcher and 14 as a DH/1B.

[BHtwins]

Josh Gibson was the greatest power hitting catcher of all time. He raked MLB pitching in documented exhibitions. Wasnt his fault they wouldnt let him play.

 

Mauer is probably a top-5 catcher now maybe top 3 of all time. Almost certainly will be a hall of famer if he can stick around and pad his stats.

[Winston Smith]

One thing to remember is that Joe is still in his prime and all these guys have those failing final years added in.

A lot of great hitting catchers all with their own pluses and minuses.

Campanella, Cochran, Dickey, Bench, Piazza, Yogi, even Carter and Fisk.

[Brock Beauchamp]

One thing to remember is that Joe is still in his prime and all these guys have those failing final years added in.

A lot of great hitting catchers all with their own pluses and minuses.

Campanella, Cochran, Dickey, Bench, Piazza, Yogi, even Carter and Fisk.

 

Very true but as Joe is showing this season, he still has a couple of years left to actually bring his career averages up before the decline sets in.

 

Also, there's a good chance that Joe ages in the way that Paul Molitor, Wade Boggs, or Tony Gwynn aged... Basically, they kept putting up numbers close to their career line into their late 30s. Low power, control hitters seem to do really well, provided they don't get injured. Even John Olerud held on with decent numbers until his age 36 season (after which he retired), but he was also more power-based than anyone else I just listed.