MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -Joe Mauer has always looked smooth, with his gliding gait, those trademark sideburns, an easy smile and that textbook left-handed swing.
He’s never been as comfortable as this, though.
Finally past the frustrating back injury that ruined his winter and ate into his spring, Mauer has returned with a furor. In 10 days since he came off the disabled list, the 26-year-old owner of two batting titles is hitting .485 with 10 RBIs and three home runs. It took him 80 games to go deep that many times last season.
“To predict what I’ve done so far, I probably wouldn’t have seen that,” the Minnesota catcher said over the weekend. “It’s just seeing the ball real well.”
That’s part of the increased comfort, a better idea about how teams try to pitch to him.
idney and then inflammation in a joint between his hip and lower back that caused persistent pain when he tried to run, Mauer is stronger and more fresh than usual at this point in May.
“He’s had to do so much work, you know, to get himself in shape,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said, adding: “The big thing for him is he feels really good right now. There’s no aches or pains.”
Perhaps the most notable stride Mauer has made, however, is in his head.
He’s more assertive at the mound when he trots out to talk to his batterymates about what to throw next. He’s taken charge of the pregame strategy meetings with the pitching staff. He’s still a shy guy by nature, but he’s found himself more at ease in a public eye that never strays from the lifelong Minnesotan who plays a few city miles from where he grew up in St. Paul.
“I keep going to the same places, and I think people realize I’m not that cool,” said Mauer, offering a rare laugh-out-loud funny line. “I’m a little bit more comfortable going out now, I think I just kind of shied away from it all. I didn’t really like going around town and being the center of it all.”
Mauer’s Baltimore-based agent, Ron Shapiro, remarked about his client’s maturing mentality.
tive that no matter how much he accomplishes on the field, he’s just a regular guy who he doesn’t elevate himself in his own mind.”
That type of attitude will serve Mauer well if his contract status soon draws more attention, a distinct possibility. He’s signed through 2010, the first season of the team’s new ballpark, but his next deal could be a market-setter.
The long-term health of his lower body remains a question (he’s had knee, ankle, quadriceps and hamstring problems in the past), but a .300-plus-hitting catcher who calls a sharp game and plays sound defense will command premium money.
“He’s a great teammate, and we’re counting on him to make a huge impact on our club in the months to come,” general manager Bill Smith, refusing to comment on the contract situation. Shapiro also declined.
As for Mauer?
“It’s something, when the season’s on, you really don’t think about,” he said. “With all the stuff that’s happened to me, I just focus on getting healthy and playing everyday.”
When Johan Santana entered the second-to-last year of his deal in 2007, the unresolved matter grew into a distraction. The Twins were then forced to trade the two-time Cy Young Award winner when he turned down their highest and longest offer.
Might that happen with Mauer?
uipped.
First baseman and fellow All-Star Justin Morneau, half-jokingly, regularly pressures Mauer to sign a long-term extension so they can play together at Target Field to retirement. The pair has forged such a synergy that their friendship has become known as “the bromance” in their inner circle.
The nickname, in all seriousness, speaks to the value of a player the Twins sound determined to keep for the future.
“I think that goes for a lot of people in this clubhouse,” Gardenhire said. “We all know that.”
Mauer’s performance against Seattle last weekend was a clinic, whether turning an outside fastball into an opposite-field home run or sending a slider down the line for a two-run double. Mariners ace Felix Hernandez wondered aloud how to pitch to him.
“I’m just trying to hold on to that feeling,” Mauer said.
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