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Eric Black Ink

Not that Delmon Young and Joe Mauer are competing with each other

By Eric Black | 06/21/10

But has anyone noticed that, as of today, more than 40 percent of the way through the season, Delmon is ahead of Mauer in pretty much every offensive category, by which I mean batting average, home runs, rbi, slugging average, OPS. Also stolen bases.

Mr. Mauer leads in doubles and, because he draws more walks, in on-base percentage.

Just sayin'.

My son and I have been hard on Mr. Young these last coupla years, so you gotta note these things.

Comments (4)

Submitted by Tim Walker on June 21, 2010 - 12:22pm.

I've played baseball for more than 40 years (and still do), and most of those years have been spent behind the plate as a catcher.

Because of the physically demanding requirements of the position, a catcher goes to the plate much more exhausted than any other position player.

It's a testament to Mauer's skills and stamina that he's putting up such strong offensive numbers, even though they are not team-leading numbers.

Submitted by Mark Snyder on June 21, 2010 - 12:46pm.

I think Eric's point was not so much to knock Mauer as to give Young some much-deserved praise?

He's playing extremely well and it's time he got some credit for it.

Submitted by Dave Eldred on June 21, 2010 - 1:04pm.

Kudos to Delmon -- this year he is showing the talent he has. I was this close to giving up on him entirely; I'm happy he's proving me wrong for doubting him

Mauer's numbers are down from his normal year, but he still has the third best line drive percentage in the AL. In other words, he's been unlucky this year in that a lot of those line drives have been hit right at people. When the averages do their thing, his stats will come back up.

Submitted by Michael Hunt on June 22, 2010 - 10:33am.

No actually, given the $180 mil he's making, criticism of the Baby Jesus is well deserved.