Will Joe Mauer Ever Win Another Batting Title?

Joe Mauer has become the best of both worlds for Minnesota Twins fans. At his best, Mauer is a cornerstone of the franchise able to put a team on his back. At his worst, he's a target for critics on message boards and sports talk radio.

However, Mauer's most notable accomplishments have not been his 2009 American League MVP or his three Gold Gloves. What defines Mauer at this point of his career are his three AL batting championships (2006, 2008 and 2009).

That's because before Mauer no American League catcher had won a batting championship. While Mauer gets a lot of ridicule for calling catching the most demanding position on the field, he's right. Catching does require that a player not only be sharp physically, but mentally as well.

With those three titles, the argument could be made that Mauer would be one of the greatest hitting catchers of all time, even if he hung up the spikes today. But at age 28, the question remains: Can Mauer become even greater by winning another batting crown?

There are several hurdles that Mauer will have to clear in order to claim his fourth title. The most obvious is durability.

There have been plenty of catchers who have been able to hit, but none have been able to do it for a prolonged period of time. A prime example is Jason Kendall.

The former Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland Athletics catcher routinely caught 140 games a season. At the beginning of his career, Kendall was one of the best-hitting catchers in baseball, hitting .301 between age 22 and 32.

But all  those appearances took its toll, and Kendall's average slipped to .246 from age 33 to 36.

By comparison, Mauer has caught an average of 92 games per season (an average that goes up to 119 when you take out seasons when Mauer missed significant time due to injury).

While that's not quite at Kendall's level, there still could be a drop in average if Mauer continues to catch regularly.

This also brings up the factor of Father Time. If we're basing Mauer's production on Kendall's track record, Mauer only may have four seasons to win a fourth batting championship.

What may help Mauer is the Twins' willingness to move him to different positions on the field. Kendall only played significant time in the outfield in two seasons (2001 with the Pirates and 2007 with the Athletics).

At the moment, the Twins seem to be thinking that Mauer will find play more first base, especially if Justin Morneau is forced into the designated-hitter role because of his concussions.

Finally, will Mauer have enough protection in the Twins lineup. While Morneau could be forced to be the DH, he could also be forced to retire because of his concussion symptoms. That would leave a gaping hole that would be difficult to fill.

This would mean that Mauer would have to make the most of plate appearances where he is actually pitched to. While Mauer is capable of doing so, the other two factors that have been mentioned could make this more difficult as time goes on.

So that brings us back to the question: Can Mauer can win another batting championship? I believe he will, but I'm not so sure it will be with him playing behind the plate.

Regardless, if Mauer is unable to bring another one home, he still will go down as one of the best offensive players of his generation at the catcher position.