Just as a comparison, and because I have no idea. If you thought I was trying to be smart, I wasn't. I actually wanted to see the comparison to see if Mauer is better or worse than the rest of the league.

Sorry if I came off wrong, wasn't my intention.

According to baseball reference...Joe Mauer groundball to flyball ratio is 1.11. That means he is hitting 1.11 ground balls to every fly ball.

During some of his best seasons, (2009 and 2010) his GB/FB ratio was .95 and .88 respectively. Shows a little downgrade.

Why are you looking at that??

Look at the ratio of ground balls to FB + LD. Then get back to me.

Line drive percentage so far this season is 20%, which is the lowest percentage of his career since 2008.

His percentage of 'fly ball outs' that are in the infield is 11%, which is far and away the worse of his career, considering the highest it has ever been has been 4%. Small sample size obviously considering its less than a month compared to a whole season, but Mauer does have some things to improve on, no doubt about it.

My info is backing up your claim dude, not sure if you get that. I am trying to help you out a little bit here, even though its not the exact same point that you are making.

Oh so you're helping me. Gee thanks ;-)

At first I had no idea what you were getting at when you said you were interested in finding out what the league average was. For what reason would we do that? Is the league average some sort of standard to measure JOE MAUER against??? That was a little off the wall. Then you compared GB's to FB's only. What was that all about?? All you need to know is that he has A LOT less balls leaving the infield than there should be. I provided plenty of anecdotal information for you to check on and yet you still keep asking me questions. Do your own work!

How about this......
Go check out how many at bats he's had and figure out how many times the ball didn't even leave the infield. I'll give you a hint: It's a pretty high percentage, and in my opinion, totally unacceptable for a 3# who is one of the highest paid players in the game.

Someone needs to stick a lit Roman candle in his cornhole or something. He is just ho-humming it through this year. I really don't care about his .300 + batting average. He needs to be more of a contributor and to do that he HAS TO drive in runs. Even if he plays in every game (and he won't) he STILL might not drive in 100 at the pace he is going. Unacceptable.

He got mad when fans booed him a couple of weeks ago and then promptly crushed and PULLED a homer to right. Maybe it was all just coincidence but it sure seemed like he did well when pisssed off that day.

Pretty much. Does Joe Mauer think he can live a stress-free life or something? LOL
EVERYONE on this board is expected to deliver up to some standard in some way shape or form. NONE of us make tens of millions a year, though.

Is it too much to ask for him to drive the ball?? Think maybe he can hit more extra base hits and HRs every once in a while so we can plate a few runs??

I agree.

i really hate to get myself in to the mauer s*itstorm that has engulfed this board in the last few days, but i'll throw my two cents in.

right now we are looking at a team with a 5-13 record. not one of our starters has an ERA under 4 and 3 are above 6. swarzak is nearly at 6 with a 5.94 ERA. we have won exactly 2 games at home all season long and have won one series. we have 4 guys hitting at .250 or better (parmelee is at .250). the red sox have stomped all over us this entire series, and all we can talk about is ONE guy.

what i'm saying is, i too wish mauer would have given us more since his contract, but this is like arguing about chair placement on the titanic.

this club is a giant mess.

OK. Mauer is only one player. I get it.

Have some hope. The NFL Draft is tomorrow.

P.S. Joe is not just a problem but an EXPENSIVE one to boot!!!

When have I ever agreed with you? Once or twice??

Well...make it three times now

So, having his head up his behind right now is not causing it?

I know I am late on this thread but a classic Mauer at bat was his 2rbi single to the pitcher as described in the Yahoo game updates when they were rallying against the RSox. How did that happen? Must have ricochet into foul territory. His home run was a "ball hits bat" piece of pure luck. Reminded me of my career in fast pitch softball. I hit a solid single to left field one time when I literally swung at the pitcher's motion, felt the ball hit the bat, ran to first and the 1b coach told me what happened.

4-3 in the scorebook 3 times. At what point does he stop doing this so much??

Mauer STILL has elevated only ONE pulled ball all season. Just that HR against Haren at home that he put into the RF stands on April 12th. He did line a ball over Teixiera's head in NY in the RF corner for a double off Freddy Garcia on April 21st also, but that is it. Apart from that, he has yet to so much as fly out to RF. Not a single gapper between CF and RF. Not a single ball off the wall in RF....and although it's not recorded, I don't recall very many pulled foul balls. Certainly not one that looked like it had any potential to do damage.
Look it up yourself if you don't believe me:
http://www.fangraphs.com/statsp.aspx?playerid=1857&position=C&season=2012

Quite frankly, I think this approach is bizzare. It's as if he has decided he isn't going to turn on a baseball. He is content to just hit flares into left and hard ground balls that hopefully find a hole. He has bought into this 'move runners over' style of offense hook-line and sinker--even though a guy of his stature should be thinking I NEED TO DRIVE IN RUNS. He needs to accept the fact that he needs to contribute more as a run producer and that would include turning on the baseball. He can't go up there looking to hit a single or draw a walk in EVERY DARN AT BAT hoping that Willingham will clean it up for him. He's deferring too much responsibility and that has an effect on the offense, imo.

This team needs a lift and I think a Mauer HR would do a lot pick this team up. I know that it's has been deflating for me to watch him hit the way he has. I understand he has a good AVG and has hit good with RiSP, but there is more to it than that when you are a franchise player who has earned the tag based on offensive prowess. A big man like Joe, being paid all that money and hitting in the middle of the lineup, needs to drive the ball at a much higher rate. I find his approach exasperating to watch now.

We always hear about how Joe is a natural hitter and has a beautiful swing. I am tired of the beautiful natural swing. I want some swings like Carlos Gomez used show us where he nearly corkscrews himself into the ground. If he would cut loose with some very aggressive swings I would accept the ones that were outs better than the pathetic Revere type ground outs. As you said, his numbers are not bad but show me a bit of fire.

Look at the way the Howie Kendrick unloads on a belt high fastball to his liking. Does Joe EVER see a pitch he can turn on? It's like he has no intention of dialing it up. Ever.

I'm completely baffled with his approach.