Can Joe Mauer Hit .400?

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Note: Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press evidently raised the same question last night, while we were slaving away at this. Frankly, we're annoyed, but trust us—our answer is better.

After missing the first month of the season, Joe Mauer won't have enough plate appearances to qualify for his third batting title until early August.

But Minnesota's star catcher should have his sights on a loftier goal:

The .400 club.

Twenty-eight hitters are on the list already. Just 13 of those played in the modern era, and of that group, only one—Shoeless Joe Jackson—isn't in the Hall of Fame.

Since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941, we've seen seven 60-homer seasons, a dozen 150-RBI campaigns, and seven instances of a .500-plus on-base percentage. We've seen long-standing records in everything from walks to hits to long balls eclipsed.

But we haven't seen a repeat of the Splendid Splinter's performance.

That's where Mauer, currently sitting on .436, comes in.

On one hand, his relatively small sample size of 24 games means he has plenty of room to slip. After all, a handful of hitters have flirted with .400 into June and July, only to fall well short.

On the other, it's been quite some time since a young hitter with as much upside and pedigree as Mauer mounted a serious challenge.

Here's a look at three things that need to happen for Mauer to make a run at baseball's most elusive batting milestone.

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