The Interesting Case of Joe Mauer

Is Joe Mauer a Hall of Famer? The other day I heard it said that the Twins former catcher, now turned first baseman, is a lock for baseball’s highest honor. To me, it’s not that clear, in fact, it’s not clear at all. Let’s look at Mauer’s resume: He is a six-time All-Star, a three-time Gold Glove winner, and was the American League MVP in 2009. That’s nothing to sneeze at, but it’s not an extraordinary resume either.

Let’s dig deeper. Mauer has one season, his MVP campaign, in which he hit 28 home runs. Outside of that season, which can now be considered an outlier, Mauer has reached double-digit dingers in just five other seasons. Mind you, he has played fourteen! Now I understand home runs aren’t everything, but failing to reach ten long-balls in more seasons than not, especially in this era, is not satisfactory.

Mauer also has yet to even eclipse 2,000 career hits and has also never had a single season in which he had at least 200 hits. For context, Derek Jeter another non-power hitter destined for the Hall of Fame, had eight such seasons. Now, I understand that catchers, especially those with defensive prowess, have historically been overvalued and are more likely to crack the code into Cooperstown, but Mauer just doesn’t pass smell test for me. Others see him as a lock, but not me.

I’ll leave you with this: Joe Mauer has played fourteen seasons and has won a single playoff game. Hall of Fame lock? I don’t think so.