Expectations have always been high for Joe Mauer. Long before the Twins chose the St. Paul native as their top draft pick in 2001, Mauer was considered a sports phenom. If his rookie season is any indication, the Minnesota Twins catcher will be rubbing elbows with the league's other top talents in a not-too-distant All-Star game.
Mauer, 21, has the highest slugging percentage on the team, and an approach to the game that has earned him accolades from coaches, teammates and fans.
LORNA BENSON: Expectations have always been high for Joe Mauer. Long before the Twins chose the St. Paul native as their top draft pick in 2001, Mauer was considered a sports phenom. At Cretin-Derham High School, he was a star quarterback, leading his team to the State Football Championship in 1999.
In basketball, he averaged more than 20 points a game. And in baseball, his batting average exceeded 500 every year, and he only struck out once ever. In the minors, Mauer was equally impressive.
So it didn't surprise anyone when the Twins decided to bring him up to the big leagues this spring. On opening day, Mauer was positioned behind home plate as the Twins regular catcher, and he was eighth in the batting order. One game later, he injured his knee and was out for eight weeks.
Mauer didn't disappoint fans when he returned to the lineup last month. His 311 batting average is tops on the team. And he's hit 6 home runs since his return, more than any of his three seasons in the minors. Those kind of numbers prompted Twins manager Ron Gardenhire to take an unusual step. He promoted his rookie to the third spot in the batting order.
RON GARDENHIRE: We were kind of scuffling and weren't scoring any runs, so I just thought, why not? Let him go up there and take some swings. And he's done very well. He is good at bats. He knows the strike zone. So let him swing.
LORNA BENSON: It's a good place to be by any measure. But if Joe Mauer is excited, it doesn't show. His approach is low key, even when talking about the season's high points.
JOE MAUER: I hit my first home run and caught three shut outs just the other series. And now I'm hitting the 3 hole. So it's been a pretty good year so far.
JIM O'NEILL: It's real difficult to tell whether Joe had a great night or a bad night by the way he acts. He's pretty consistent in his behavior. And that's a good thing for a baseball player.
LORNA BENSON: Jim O'Neill was Mauer's baseball coach at Cretin-Derham Hall. O'Neill says his former student has been groomed for this job since he was a little boy. That's when Mauer's dad, Jake, created a contraption he later named the "Quick Swing." The device dropped balls down a tube from eye level and released them at waist level. O'Neil says it helped Mauer develop his swing.
JIM O'NEILL: Another guy that came from Cretin-Derham Hall or Paul Molitor was very similar, had a good short swing, quick swing. And they were both able to wait on the ball so, so long because they don't have the big swing.
And like anything, you keep simple and keep it small or short. There's not a lot of holes in it. And there's not a lot of room for errors.
LORNA BENSON: At a recent batting practice, fans began filling the Metrodome hours before that night's game. Dozens of kids lined up along the railing. Many were jockeying to get Mauer's autograph.
13-year-old Kelsey Hunstad was one of the lucky few who got the rookie to sign her worn leather glove.
KELSEY HUNSTAD: I think he's really neat. He was the first person that I ever saw bat. So it feels kind of special to me.
LORNA BENSON: Outside the dome, in the sweltering summer heat, the story was much the same among tailgaters. Ryan Kroll of Golden Valley thinks Mauer can do no wrong.
RYAN KROLL: Well, as a Minnesotan, you can't help but root for him. I mean, he's local, and you want him to do the best. And I think people here or Twins fans in general, I think are starving for the next Killebrew, the next Hrbek, the next Puckett, and that kind of thing. And I think he's certainly kind of fits that mold.
LORNA BENSON: It's a lot of pressure for anyone to live up to, let alone a 21-year-old. But so far, Mauer isn't showing any signs of cracking.
JOE MAUER: It's been fine. It's just a little more hectic than it has been these past couple of years. But I'm starting to get used to it.
LORNA BENSON: After the all-star break. Mauer and his teammates hit the road. The Twins take on Kansas City next in a four-game series starting Thursday, followed by two games, in Detroit. I'm Lorna Benson, Minnesota Public Radio.
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