Joe Mauer

The only catcher in MLB history to win three batting titles, Joe Mauer spent his entire 15-year career with the Minnesota Twins and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2024.

Joseph Patrick Mauer (born April 19, 1983) is an American former professional baseball catcher and first baseman who spent his entire 15-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Minnesota Twins. Regarded as one of the greatest contact hitters at the catcher position in his prime, Mauer is the only catcher in MLB history to win three batting titles, and the only catcher to ever win a batting title in the American League (AL). Internationally, Mauer represented the United States.

Selected by the Twins with the first overall pick of the 2001 MLB draft, Mauer received six All-Star selections, won three consecutive Gold Glove Awards (2008–2010), five Silver Slugger Awards (including three in a row), and the 2009 AL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award. He is the most recent catcher to win the MVP award in the American League, and one of only two catchers to win an MVP in the 21st century, along with Buster Posey. In 2024, Mauer was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Quick Facts

Position: Catcher; First baseman
Born: 19 April 1983
Birthplace: Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Bats: Left
Throws: Right
Debut league: MLB
Debut date: April 5
Debut year: 2004

Lore & Background

Mauer played football, basketball, and baseball for St. Paul's Cretin-Derham Hall Raiders. In his senior year, he became the only athlete ever to be selected as the USA Today High School Player of the Year in football (quarterback, 2000) and baseball (catcher, 2001). In December 2009, Sports Illustrated magazine included Mauer in its article on ten 'signature' moments in U.S. high school sports in the 2000–2009 decade, referring to his selection by the Minnesota Twins as the first pick in the 2001 Major League Baseball draft.

Mauer attended the same high school as Baseball Hall of Famer and former Milwaukee Brewer Paul Molitor, who later became his major league manager with the Twins. Molitor has said that Mauer 'has the best swing he had ever seen'. Jim O'Neill, Mauer's baseball coach at Cretin-Derham Hall, said his former student 'has been groomed for this job since he was a little boy.' Mauer's dad, Jake, created a contraption for Joe he later named the 'Quickswing.'

The device dropped balls down a tube from eye level and released them at waist level. Mauer had been asked to leave his T-ball league at the age of four, because he was hitting the ball too hard for the other players. A stand-out in baseball, Mauer struck out only once during his four-year high school career (though he did strike out in the All-Star game his senior year which isn't included in his overall stats). He hit .605 during his senior season.

Mauer's high school batting average exceeded .500 every year. He also set a Minnesota high school record and tied the national preps mark by hitting a home run in seven consecutive games. Mauer caught for the Team USA Junior National team from 1998 to 2000 and hit .595 during his final year on the team. He was voted best hitter at the World Junior Baseball Championship in Canada.

Mauer was voted the United States District V Player of the Year. In basketball, Mauer averaged more than 20 points a game as a point guard for Cretin-Derham Hall and was named to the All-State team during his final two years. In football, during his senior season as the Raiders' quarterback, Mauer completed 178 of 269 passes (66% completion percentage), for 3,022 yards, 41 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Reader's Guide

After committing to play football at Florida State University, Mauer ultimately decided instead to enter the Major League Baseball draft. Mauer was selected by the Twins as the first overall pick of the 2001 draft, ahead of college pitcher Mark Prior, who was taken second overall by the Chicago Cubs. Mauer was part of the United States' roster at the All-Star Futures Game at U.S. Cellular Field before being promoted to the Twins' roster after his predecessor, A. J. Pierzynski, was traded to the San Francisco Giants, in the 2003 offseason.

Mauer made his major league debut on April 5, 2004, and finished the game 2-for-3, hitting a single off Rafael Betancourt of the Cleveland Indians for his first major-league hit. A knee injury to his left medial meniscus on April 7, 2004, required surgery and sidelined Mauer for more than a month. After a rehabilitation stint with the Twins' Triple-A affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings, Mauer returned to the Twins' lineup in June. In July, pain and swelling in his knee forced an early end to Mauer's 2004 season.

Following his injury-shortened 2004, Mauer signed a contract for under a million with the Twins on January 24, 2005. In 2005, Mauer returned to the Twins' lineup for his first full major league season, and batted .294 with 144 hits, nine home runs and 55 RBI in 131 games. In his 2006 season, Mauer became the first catcher in American League history to lead the American League in batting average, finishing with an average of .347. Mauer's performance during the months of May and June garnered attention from the national media.

He recorded a .528 batting average over the first ten days of June and hit .452 over the course of the month. He was also the first player since Mike Piazza in 1997 to reach base four or more times for five consecutive games. On June 12, Mauer was named the American League Player of the Week by Major League Baseball for his performance the week of June 4–11, during which he hit .625 (15-for-24) with five doubles, 4 RBI and two stolen bases. Mauer recorded his first five RBI game June 26, against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Mauer followed that up with his first career five-hit game on June 27, also against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was also named MLB Player of the Month for June after batting .452 with a .624 slugging percentage and .528 on-base percentage, 11 doubles, 14 RBI and 18 runs.