Joe Mauer young and talented enough to provide top-fantasy-catcher performance in 2012 - Fantasy Baseball

I can write with some degree of certainty that Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer is not going to hit 28 home runs this season. Mauer did this in 2009, shocking us all since his previous career best was 13. In the two years since Mauer's unlikely power assault, he has hit all of 12 homers. Look, he's not really a home run hitter, except for one glorious season. We need to get past this.

And yet, as Mauer prepares to bounce back from a truncated, injury-filled 2011 campaign in which he hit a career-worst .287 -- man, how many players, such as Mark Reynolds and Carlos Pena, would love to hit .287! -- few people regard him as either a top-50 overall player or even a top-5 catcher. But I see possibilities here. After all, Mauer does have a backstop-record three batting titles to his credit, and he's a career .323 hitter. Last season wasn't his best, but he's still just 28 years old. Why can't he bounce back strong this season in the category that is truly his strength?

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