ESPN Busted with Their Hands Down Joe Mauer's Pants

I was at last night's 7-4 Twins victory over the Chicago White Sox at US Cellular Field and got to see the great Joe Mauer live and in person.

Mauer is currently batting .380 with 8HR and 53 RBI. One of those home runs and three of those RBIs came last night.

In the seventh inning Mauer, with a 3-1 count(I think I read somewhere yesterday that Mauer is hitting .586 when thrown a fastball on a 3-1 count), sent a belt-high fastball over the centerfield wall off lefty Neal Cotts. It was Mauer's first home run off a left hander this season.

Now don't get me wrong, I think Joe Mauer is a terrific young baseball player. He has a swing that would probably make Ted Williams say, "Ooooh."

Well, if his lips weren't frozen, anyway.

But is he going to be the Greatest Hitter of All Time?

ESPN thinks so. They've basically started clearing a space in Cooperstown for him. The last few days at ESPN.com have been a virtual Mauer Lovefest. Take, for instance, this quote from Keith Law:

"The problem with Joe Mauer is that there are no problems with Joe Mauer. I'm not sure he's the perfect player, but he's pretty close. I wish to marry him and have 8 of his children."

Ok, so he never said he wants to marry him, or father his children, but he may as well have.

Rob Neyer also joined in on the Mauer reach-arounds, basically proclaiming him the greatest offensive catcher of all time.

Yes, Mauer is good but I don't think he's anything near perfect.

First of all, I'm pretty sure last night he struck out twice and grounded out, meekly too.

Also, for someone his size (6'4", 220 lbs) he doesn't produce very good power numbers. The Twins believe he'll grow in time and so will his numbers. But that will affect his catching. Mauer already is a little bit too big for the position; that large frame of his will eventually be hell on his back and knees.

Which means, I believe, that at some point Mauer is destined to become a first baseman. And then will we still consider him to be so great? It's easier to get noticed as a great offensive catcher because there aren't that many. A big-hitting first baseman on the other hand, very common.

And finally, yeah, Mauer has all the tools and is fully capable of being a Hall of Fame hitter in his career, but for Christ's sake people, he's 23.

He hasn't even played a complete Major League season yet!

So can we please slow down on his coronation as the Greatest Hitter of All-Time?

If you want to put this in perspective, just look at the guy drafted after Mauer in 2002: Mark Prior. He pitched one season, was heralded as a Messiah and the greatest pitcher of all time, and has done absolutely nothing since due to injuries.

A lot can happen to a baseball player in his career, let alone when that player plays the most demanding position in the game.