Joe Mauer lingered on the disabled list into late April, and he didn't hit any homers during his injury rehabilitation assignment. In his first at-bat back with the Twins, however, Mauer leaned into a 2-0 fastball from Sidney Ponson and drove it over the wall in left-center field. That surprised him, he acknowledged on Sunday.
But the bombs are becoming less surprising for those of us watching. Mauer just continues to hit homers, game after game. He has 11 now in just 23 games since being activated off the disabled list, which means that he's within a couple blasts of his career-high. "I'm not trying to hit home runs," Mauer insists. "I haven't really noticed anything different."
Yet the results are different -- very different -- so far. And it might just be about raw knowledge. As Mauer has gained experience, he has become more adept at understanding what opposing pitchers are trying to do against him, anticipating what they might try to do next. For that reason, he has tried to be a little bit more aggressive in ball-strike counts when he is reasonably assured of what the opposing pitcher is going to throw.
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Buster Olney
