Mauer Wins AL MVP

No surprise there.  Mauer was the obvious choice, given that the Twins made the post-season, and he led the league in hitting while playing more than 100 games at catcher.

The number that really caught my attention is Mauer’s 1.031 OPS.  How good is that for a catcher in a single season?  Good enough for 6th best all-time, based on my limited research.  Here are the five players who did better than Mauer (with year):

Mike Piazza (1997)  1.069

Jack Clements* (1895) 1.058

Javy Lopez** (2003) 1.065

Bill Dickey** (1936) 1.045

Gabby Hartnett (1930) 1.034

* Jack Clements would not have been considered to have had enough plate appearances to qualify under modern rules (3.1 plate appearances per each game played by team), but he was considered to have played enough to be considered the National League’s third best hitter in 1895.

** Javy Lopez had only 495 plate appearances in 2003, so he falls off some lists.  However, if he had made seven more outs to reach the 502 modern minimum for plate appearances, his OPS would still have been 1.040, so it’s fair to list him ahead of Mauer.  Bill Dickey also just missed the 3.1 plate appearances per game played by team requirement (by five plate appearances), but he was also considered the AL’s third highest hitter in 1936 and would beat Mauer if the additional outs were added to his 1936 batting records.

What can we conclude from this list?  Obviously, Joe Mauer’s 2009 season was one of the best hitting years by a catcher ever.  He’s also on a list that includes some really great hitting catchers in baseball history.

Also, it’s worth noting that all six of these seasons happened in what where among the best offensive years in baseball history.  The mid-1890’s (after the pitcher’s rubber was moved back to its current 60′6″), the period from 1920-1939, and the current period starting around 1995 (after the ‘94 Players Strike and the peak steroids era) are the greatest hitting eras in Major League history.

In fact, now that wide-spread steroid abuse is out of the game, power numbers have dropped significantly, and Joe Mauer has a legitimate claim to the best offensive season ever by a catcher.  Of the five players ahead of Mauer on the list above, none actually led his league in OPS during his monster season.  Mike Piazza came closest, finishing second in the NL about 100 basis points behind NL league leader Larry Walker.

Joe Mauer, on the other hand, led the AL in OPS this year by a whopping 70 basis points (Kevin Youkilis was second with a .961 OPS).  According to my research, this makes Mauer the only regular or even semi-regular catcher (Jimmy “The Beast” Foxx led the AL in OPS in 1935 in a year in which he played catcher in 26 games, I have to assume when both of the A’s regular catchers were hurting mightily) to have led his league in OPS since 1900.  That’s an accomplishment that speaks for itself.