Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins

[SP33Demon]

I was looking at total OPS stats this morning and saw that Mauer just pulled ahead of Youk for the top spot. I'm thinking to myself: holy sht, this has to be the BEST offensive season for a catcher - EVER. So I signed up for a month to baseball-reference's stats service ($5/month).

Here's the results and I was correct. I did OPS and then OPS+, from 1871 - Present.

Cnt Player **OPS** Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG Positions
+----+-----------------+---------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+---------+
1 Joe Mauer 1.096 2009 26 MIN AL 95 420 366 73 139 21 1 25 77 48 6 47 1 0 5 7 3 1 .380 .448 .648 *2D
2 Mike Piazza 1.069 1997 28 LAD NL 152 633 556 104 201 32 1 40 124 69 11 77 3 0 5 19 5 1 .362 .431 .638 *2/D
3 Bill Dickey 1.045 1936 29 NYY AL 112 472 423 99 153 26 8 22 107 46 0 16 3 0 0 0 0 2 .362 .428 .617 *2
4 Gabby Hartnett 1.034 1930 29 CHC NL 141 578 508 84 172 31 3 37 122 55 0 62 1 14 0 0 0 0 .339 .404 .630 *2
5 Rudy York 1.026 1937 23 DET AL 104 417 375 72 115 18 3 35 103 41 0 52 0 1 0 0 3 2 .307 .375 .651 *25/3
6 Mike Piazza 1.012 2000 31 NYM NL 136 545 482 90 156 26 0 38 113 58 10 69 3 0 2 15 4 2 .324 .398 .614 *2/D
7 Mike Piazza 1.006 1995 26 LAD NL 112 475 434 82 150 17 0 32 93 39 10 80 1 0 1 10 1 0 .346 .400 .606 *2
8 Roy Campanella 1.006 1953 31 BRO NL 144 590 519 103 162 26 3 41 142 67 0 58 4 0 0 13 4 2 .312 .395 .611 *2
9 Chris Hoiles 1.001 1993 28 BAL AL 126 503 419 80 130 28 0 29 82 69 4 94 9 3 3 10 1 1 .310 .416 .585 *2/D
10 Rudy York .996 1938 24 DET AL 135 557 463 85 138 27 2 33 127 92 0 74 2 0 0 0 1 2 .298 .417 .579 *27/3
-------------------------------------------------

Cnt Player **OPS+** Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions
+----+-----------------+--------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+
1 Joe Mauer 192 2009 26 MIN AL 95 420 366 73 139 21 1 25 77 48 6 47 1 0 5 7 3 1 .380 .448 .648 1.096 *2D
2 Mike Piazza 185 1997 28 LAD NL 152 633 556 104 201 32 1 40 124 69 11 77 3 0 5 19 5 1 .362 .431 .638 1.069 *2/D
3 Mike Piazza 172 1995 26 LAD NL 112 475 434 82 150 17 0 32 93 39 10 80 1 0 1 10 1 0 .346 .400 .606 1.006 *2
4 Mike Piazza 166 1996 27 LAD NL 148 631 547 87 184 16 0 36 105 81 21 93 1 0 2 21 0 3 .336 .422 .563 .985 *2
5 Johnny Bench 166 1972 24 CIN NL 147 652 538 87 145 22 2 40 125 100 23 84 2 0 12 18 6 6 .270 .379 .541 .920 *29/35
6 Art Wilson 166 1915 29 CHI FL 96 351 269 44 82 11 2 7 31 65 0 38 1 16 0 0 8 0 .305 .442 .439 .881 *2
7 Mike Grady 166 1904 34 STL NL 101 363 323 44 101 15 11 5 43 31 0 0 2 7 0 0 6 0 .313 .376 .474 .850 *23/45
8 Chris Hoiles 162 1993 28 BAL AL 126 503 419 80 130 28 0 29 82 69 4 94 9 3 3 10 1 1 .310 .416 .585 1.001 *2/D
9 Carlton Fisk 162 1972 24 BOS AL 131 514 457 74 134 28 9 22 61 52 6 83 4 1 0 11 5 2 .293 .370 .538 .908 *2
10 Ernie Lombardi 161 1942 34 BSN NL 105 347 309 32 102 14 0 11 46 37 0 12 1 0 0 17 1 0 .330 .403 .482 .885 *2
-------------------------------------------------------------------

After this season you have to mention Mauer in the same breath as greats like Fisk, Berra, Bench, and Piazza. His numbers are just unreal this year and he has to be the MVP regardless if the Twins even make it to the playoffs.

 

[Genx87]

Yeah he is having an unbelievable year. Especially considering he had some chronic injury that kept him out for a couple of weeks to start the season.

 

[Miramonti]

Never heard of him...I'm obviously not following baseball lately. Is that his batting average, .380? :Q

 

[soulcougher73]

Yeah he's a stud. And for missing like 1/4 of the season and putting those numbers up is rediculous. He is batting like .508 in his last 68 at bats i saw on news last night.

 

[oboeguy]

Piazza played in 57 more games than this guy has this season. I imagine you could pick out 95 games from Piazza's best season and find better stats.

 

[SP33Demon]

Originally posted by: jjsole
Never heard of him...I'm obviously not following baseball lately. Is that his batting average, .380? :Q

Yes, he's batting .380 in 366AB's.

They said in the last 42 games he'd need 75 hits, averaging 4 AB's per game to finish the season .400. So 75 in 168AB's (.446).

 

[drum]

He can thank the Indians for that :laugh:
He's a tremendous catcher, no two ways about that

 

[SP33Demon]

Originally posted by: oboeguy
Piazza played in 57 more games than this guy has this season. I imagine you could pick out 95 games from Piazza's best season and find better stats.

There's still 42 more games left. We'll see if he can keep it up.

 

[oboeguy]

Originally posted by: SP33Demon

Originally posted by: oboeguy
Piazza played in 57 more games than this guy has this season. I imagine you could pick out 95 games from Piazza's best season and find better stats.

There's still 42 more games left. We'll see if he can keep it up.

Indeed, let's do that before handing him the MVP trophy.

 

[SP33Demon]

Originally posted by: drum
He can thank the Indians for that :laugh:
He's a tremendous catcher, no two ways about that

The Indians lol, yep!

One other factoid: He's the only AL catcher to ever win 2 batting titles, and tied with Ernie Lombardi (1938 & 1942) for the MLB record. If he wins it this year he will be the first catcher to win 3 titles ever. However, Ichiro is hot on his ass so we'll see if that happens.

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: SP33Demon

Originally posted by: jjsole
Never heard of him...I'm obviously not following baseball lately. Is that his batting average, .380? :Q

Yes, he's batting .380 in 366AB's.

They said in the last 42 games he'd need 75 hits, averaging 4 AB's per game to finish the season .400. So 75 in 168AB's (.446).

From a power hitting position, that's insane for a guy his size. Looking back at 2006...wtf, .347 too! The dude can obviously make contact.

Only 13 HR's then in 140 games, while this year his batting average is way up, and he has 25 HR's in 95 games. That's a helluva enigma. I would bet lot's against him hitting .400, but not that I wouldn't be rooting for it. It's one of baseball's great milestones.

Is his defense respectable?

 

[drum]

Originally posted by: jjsole

Originally posted by: SP33Demon

Originally posted by: jjsole
Never heard of him...I'm obviously not following baseball lately. Is that his batting average, .380? :Q

Yes, he's batting .380 in 366AB's.

They said in the last 42 games he'd need 75 hits, averaging 4 AB's per game to finish the season .400. So 75 in 168AB's (.446).

From a power hitting position, that's insane for a guy his size. Looking back at 2006...wtf, .347 too! The dude can obviously make contact.

Only 13 HR's then in 140 games, while this year his batting average is way up, and he has 25 HR's in 95 games. That's a helluva enigma. I would bet lot's against him hitting .400, but not that I wouldn't be rooting for it. It's one of baseball's great milestones.

Is his defense respectable?

It is a lot harder now with all the specialist pitchers and the amount of different pitchers you face all year

 

[SP33Demon]

Originally posted by: jjsole
Is his defense respectable?

Mauer won his first Gold Glove last year (2008). His first full year in the majors was 2005.

 

[HopJokey]

Overall #1 draft pick coming out of High School. I'd say he's living up to his pick/hype.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Anyone worth his salt in baseball knows that Joe Mauer is amazing.

 

[Miramonti]

Originally posted by: SP33Demon

Originally posted by: jjsole
Is his defense respectable?

Mauer won his first Gold Glove last year (2008). His first full year in the majors was 2005.

He's no doubt a freak then. I guess that's the drawback of playing in a place like minnesota...casual observers of the game like myself never heard of him.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: oboeguy

Originally posted by: SP33Demon

Originally posted by: oboeguy
Piazza played in 57 more games than this guy has this season. I imagine you could pick out 95 games from Piazza's best season and find better stats.

There's still 42 more games left. We'll see if he can keep it up.

Indeed, let's do that before handing him the MVP trophy.

jeez, it's still speculation, don't get too defensive about your boy Piazza.

 

[Miramonti]

8 years for $184m

Isn't that more than Minnesota's GDP?

 

[shortylickens]

Never heard of him...I'm obviously not following baseball lately. Is that his batting average, .380? :Q

I havent really followed baseball since Kirby Pucket, and even I heard of this guy. He's on TV all the freaking time. Getting sick of him actually.

 

[dbk]

Too bad... He's never gonna win a WS in Minnesota

 

[techs]

When will he be a Yankee?

 

[IAteYourMother]

When will he be a Yankee?

apparently when he's a 35 year old man.

 

[Anubis]

8 years for $184m

Isn't that more than Minnesota's GDP?

yea its an insane deal, I wass really hoping that they wouldent get a deal done and that somehow teh Red Sox could grab him

 

[techs]

When will he be a Yankee?

apparently when he's a 35 year old man.

Alex Rodriguez.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Great player but I don't see him catching the 2nd half of his contract. He's already had back/knee issues and his size isn't going to help. He'll probably move to 1B when he hits 30.