Seth Stohs

The voting for preseason AL Central catcher will continue for another day, but let's get the discussion going on "Which AL Central First Baseman will be the best in 2012?" Vote now and comment your rankings. The First Basemen (2011 stats) Minnesota Twins - Justin Morneau - .227/.285/.333 (.618) with 16-2B, 4-HR, 30 RBI Chicago White Sox - Paul Konerko - .300/.388/.517 (.906) with 25-2B, 31-HR, 105 RBI Cleveland Indians - Casey Kotchman - .306/.378/.422 (.800) with 24-2B, 2-3B, 10-HR, 48 RBI Detroit Tigers - Prince Fielder - .299/.415/.566 (.981) with 36-2B, 1-3B, 38-HR, 120 RBI Kansas City Royals - Eric Hosmer - .293/.334/.465 (.799) with 27-2B, 3-3B, 19-HR, 78 RBI[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] SUMMARY It has been a rough year and a half for the Twins first baseman. Morneau has played in four All Star games, won the 2006 MVP and finished 2nd in 2010. But since getting kneed in the head by John McDonald in July of 2010, he has not been himself. Can he be again? We (Twins fans) sure hope so, but no one knows. He will turn 31 years old in May. 36-year-old Konerko is a guy who people keep thinking will drop off in his production, and then he put up another .900+ OPS season in 2011 despite fighting an injury most of the second half of the season. He also didn't get the kind of protection last year that most thought he would. Consider what numbers he could put up if Adam Dunn comes back with a solid season. Casey Kotchman was the 13th overall pick in 2001 out of high school. He is just 29 years old and hit well for the Rays in 2011. Cleveland will be his sixth team since 2008, and he is again on a one year contract. Eric Hosmer was the third overall pick in 2008 out of high school, so he will be just 22 years old throughout the 2012 season. He finished third place in AL Rookie of the Year voting last year with an impressive debut season. Can he fight off a sophomore slump and improve upon hi first year numbers? The Tigers surprised many in the baseball world by signing free agent Prince Fielder to a monster, nine-year, $214 million contract. He can flat-out hit, and no one seems worried about the 27 year old for the next couple of years. He has played in no less than 157 games in his full, big league seasons. He has finished in the Top 5 in NL MVP voting three times. He has even won two Silver Slugger Awards in a league that included Albert Pujols. However, switching leagues does often impact a player's numbers in year one. There is the information, now it is time to vote. Who will be the best first baseman in the AL Central in 2012? My choice?

It's no secret that the Twins have really struggled offensively to this point in spring training. That remained the case on Saturday when, in this sixth inning, the Twins were down 2-1 to the Pirates. Valencia stepped to the plate with two runners on and uncorked a long home run to give the Twins a 4-2 lead. The bullpen held the lead and the Twins got the win. For Valencia, it was his first home of the spring. For the Twins, it was just their third spring home run (Chris Parmelee and JR Towles had the other two). In his previous at bat, Valencia had ripped a double to the right center field gap. On the day, the Twins managed just four other hits. Terry Doyle got hit pretty hard by the Pirates. In 2.2 innings, he gave up two runs on seven hits and a walk. He was aided by a popped up bunt and a runner caught stealing on a pitch-out. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] He was helped by another terrific performance by the bullpen. Anthony Swarzak got the final out of the third inning and pitched a scoreless fourth frame. Jared Burton, Matt Maloney, Kyle Waldrop, Lester Oliveros and PJ Walters each threw a scoreless inning. ----- Earlier in the day, the Twins and Pirates played a "B" game. Scott Baker was to start, but he was unable to get loose on time, so Jeff Gray pitched the first inning. Then Alex Burnett pitched the second. Baker finally pitched in the 3rd. He was able to record just one out before the inning was called. He pitched a second inning and struggled. In all, he gave up six runs in 1.1 innings. Following the outing, Baker said his elbow was fine, he just couldn't get the ball down. Oswaldo Arcia hit a long, opposite field home run. Chris Parmelee hit two doubles.

I thought I'd start a new series here and see how it plays out. I thought it would be fun for Twins Daily readers to vote on the preseason All AL Central team. The question with each of these rankings will be "Which player do you think will have the best season in 2012?" In other words, it has nothing to do with what happened in 2011 or earlier, and it isn't asking which you would build a team with. It is, which player will be the best in 2012. (Click Here to Vote!) Let's start with the Catcher candidates: Minnesota Twins - Joe Mauer - (2011 numbers - .287/.360/.368 (.729) with 15-2B, 3-HR, 30 RBI) Chicago White Sox - AJ Pierzynski - (2011 numbers - .287/.323/.405 (.728) with 29-2B, 1-3B, 8-HR, 48 RBI) [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Cleveland Indians - Carlos Santana - (2011 numbers - .239/.351/.457 (.808) with 35-2B, 2-3B, 27-HR, 79 RBI) Detroit Tigers - Alex Avila - (2011 numbers - .295/.389/.506 (.895) with 37-2B, 4-3B, 19-HR, 82 RBI) Kansas City Royals - Salvador Perez - (2011 MLB numbers - .331/.361/.473 (.834) with 8-2B, 2-3B, 3-HR, 21 RBI) Kansas City Royals - Salvador Perez - (2011 Min Lg numbers - .290/.331/.437 (.769) with 19-2B, 10-HR, 53 RBI) SUMMARY 2011 was a forgettable season for Joe Mauer. He had knee surgery in the offseason, tried to come back too quick from that, was hurt by a bad Bi-Lateral Leg Weakness disagnosis, struggled, and his season ended early with mild pneumonia. Mauer will turn 29 years old on April 19 and is just two years removed from being the league's MVP. The Twins will likely move Joe Mauer around a little bit, letting him DH and get some starts at 1B. Cleveland has been doing that for years with Victor Martinez and now with the powerful, patient Carlos Santana. Although the batting average was low, he has a good on-base percentage and a ton of power. Santana will turn 26 years old on April 8. Alex Avila was a big surprise for the Tigers in 2011. He got his playing time behind the plate and managed to stay healthy all year. He did a nice job behind the plate, but he really took off with the bat, hitting for average and good extra base hit power. Avila recently turned 25 years old. AJ Pierzynski has been a solid big league catcher for a long time, and his durability has been impressive. With Pierzynski now 35, the White Sox may give Tyler Flowers more and more at bats. The Royals made news a couple of weeks ago when the inked Salvador Perez to a long-term deal. He played in just 39 big league games with the Royals last year as a 21 year old and hit very well, continuing a season that started with 79 games in AA before 12 games in AAA. He will turn 22 years old in early May and with Brayan Pena around, the Royals can be smart in allowing his development. Two years ago, the argument could be made that Joe Mauer was the best player, much less the best catcher in baseball. Now, an argument could be made that he is the third best catcher in the AL Central. But that's coming off of a bad 2011 season. What will 2012 bring? Who is your choice for AL Central Preseason Catcher for 2012? Please feel free to vote in the poll. (in case you're wondering, my choice is...)