The Mauer Report: Chasing History and the Summer .400 Club

No doubt Joe Mauer’s season is reaching historic proportions.   Instead of discussing the likelihood of Mauer displacing Piazza in the record books, we are considering the possibility of Mauer challenging the holy grail of hitting—the .400 season!

To consider how Mauer’s amazing start is stacking up since Ted Williams .400 season in 1941,  consider the following:

• Mauer has joined a group of 25 others who have taken a .400 batting average past June 1 and 200 plate appearances;

• Of those elite 26 making an early run at .400, Mauer is one of only 10 to sport a .400 average during official summer (after June 20).

The other nine, including the last date at .400:

Rod Carew, Twins………….. June 27, 1974

Rod Carew, Twins………….. July 10, 1977

George Brett, Royals………... Sept. 19, 1980

Rod Carew, Angels………….. July 13, 1983

Andres Galarraga, Rockies…... July 5, 1993

John Olerud, Blue Jays………. Aug. 2, 1993

Tony Gwynn, Padres……….... July 14, 1997

Tony Fernandez Blue Jays …….June 28, 1999

Nomar Garciaparra, Red Sox… July 20, 2000

It's amazing that one-third of these "summer .400s" are attributable to Rod Carew, certainly an additional endorsement of his hitting prowess!  Certainly, the Twins having Carew on board as a roving instructor, along with Paul Molitor, should help Mauer as the season progresses if he continues to hover near .400.

As another milestone, during the game today Mauer reached 200 plate appearances on the season, sporting a .412 average at the time.  Only 10 others have achieved an average over .410 at 200 plate appearances since 1941.   Curiously, only one of these fast starters appears on the “summer .400” list above, that being Rod Carew in 1977 and 1983.

A further look at the list with their batting average at 251 plate appearances, shows for most a significant decline from 200 plate appearances to 251.   This half-way point to the batting title appears to be the death valley for early season .400 challengers;  with an average decline of  2.5 hits per 100 ABs.

The fast starters: 

                                                                       BA:  200 PAs               BA: 251 PAs

1956 Mickey Mantle, Yankees                          .413                               .388
1958 Stan Musial, Cardinals                              .411                               .357
1959 Hank Aaron, Braves                                 .426                               .410

1964 Billy Williams, Cubs                                   411                               .373
1970 Rico Carty, Braves                                   .435                               .401

1974 Rod Carew, Twins                                    .413                              .396

1983 Rod Carew, Angels                                   .432                              .405 

1994 Paul O'Neill, Yankees                               .430                              .396

2008 Chipper Jones Braves                               .421                              .418 

2000 Todd Helton Rockies                                .413                              .398 

2009 Joe Mauer, Twins                                     .412                               ---

And even though Chipper Jones only dropped .003, he clearly hit a wall the week after, falling out of the .400 club for the season on June 11.

So far, for Mauer to push his way up the .400 challenger lists, the upcoming nine-game road trip to Milwaukee, St. Louis and KC will be a major test.  If Mauer can maintain his .360 road average he should return home above .400.  It would certainly help if Denard Span can re-establish himself as an impact player in the lead-off spot.

In the meantime, hopefully fans on the road will appreciate the season Mauer is having and get behind him.  And Twins fans, hit the road to Milwaukee this week and show Joe a whole lotta love!

Should Mauer fall below .400, the next prize will be taking a run at Piazza’s all-time batting mark for catchers of .362 in 1997. And it could only help Mauer’s chase if the Twins could get Joe inked to an extension; if a crummy Wolves franchise could ink  the face of their franchise with an annual salary that started with a $2 in 1997,  I would hope the up-and-coming Twins could get the best catcher in the history of the game an offer that starts there!