Minnesota Twins: Re-Ranking the 5 Twins with the Best Shot at the HOF

Minnesota Twins No. 1 Hall of Fame Candidate: Joe Mauer

Well this one was obvious. Just a year after Joe Mauer retired, his number was retired by the Minnesota Twins and for good reason. The 2009 MVP was a three-time batting champ, three-time Gold Glover, five-time Silver Slugger and six-time All-Star.

He ‘s a career .306 hitter with a .388 on-base percentage, 143 homers, and 923 runs batted in. His 939-1,034 BB-K ratio is outstanding for a player this century. He has 2,123 hits and a 124 OPS+. To top all that off he spent most of his career as a catcher, which makes all his stats even more impressive.

There are just nineteen catchers in the Hall of Fame, and his JAWS numbers rank him seventh all-time among catchers behind Johnny Bench, Gary Carter, Ivan Rodriguez, Carlton Fisk, Mike Piazza, and Yogi Berra. All seven are in the hall already.

The only question that’s left is whether the voters will count him as a catcher, where he played almost all of his career and if his loyalty to the Twins (that cost him a title) matters too much. He won’t make it first ballot, but there isn’t a good argument for him to not make it to Cooperstown. Chances: 70%