Joe Mauer Hanging Up His Glove After The MLB Season?

By Jordan Long

The Minnesota Twins sit at 67-78, 14.5 games behind the Cleveland Indians for 1^st place in the  American League Central Division.  They are also 21.5 games back of the Oakland Athletics who are the 2^nd Wild Card team. The Twins are not making a run to the postseason and the year will end on September 30^th. All-Star Joe Mauer is thinking of retiring but won’t make a decision until the off-season.

                Mauer is in his 14^th MLB season, all with the Twins, unusual in this day and age of baseball.  Players of his caliber are dealt during the trade deadline to help another franchise win a World Series.  The Twins have been loyal to him. 

                According to ESPN, Mauer said, “There’s a lot that goes into it than just, ‘Do you want to play?’ There’s a lot of different dynamics that go into it. I owe it to myself and my family to sit down and think about those things.”

                This season has been a down year for Mauer.  He is hitting .274, the lowest of his career.  He is still able to drive in runs with 43 RBI’s. 

                His defense is still there for the Twins.  They can trust him at 1^st base.  He rarely makes an error when the ball is thrown to him with only  3 errors so far this year.

If he decides to retire, Mauer is one of the best Twins’ players to ever put on a uniform.    He has never been a power hitter with a total of 143 home runs in his career.  Mauer is able to smack the ball for base hits with a career average of .306.

                The Twins reached the postseason 4 times with him, but they have never made it past the American League Division Series.   In those postseasons Mauer never hit a home run but was still able to be on base with an average of .275.

                It might be time for Mauer to leave the game of baseball.  He was voted into 6 All-Star Games and won 3 straight Gold Gloves for his play at the catcher position from 2008 to 2010.  Mauer also led the American League in batting average 3 times.  He took home 5 Silver Slugger Awards for being the best offensive player at his position during those years.  There is nothing left for him to prove in the game but he is missing a World Series ring.   That may never happen in Minnesota.  If he decides to retire, he will go down as one of the top Minnesota players to ever play the game.