Jeff Kent might earn membership in the Baseball Hall of Fame largely because he packaged his first base bat inside a second base mitt. From the keystone, Kent was an albatross on defense but being compared offensively to other second baseman inflated his value. Reportedly, he demurred at moving to the cold corner until he could hardly bend to field grounders.
Joe Mauer is Jeff Kent in reverse, and it's causing him to bleed into irrelevance. As a backstop, Mauer's heart-of-the-order stick made him a perennial All-Star. Translate that to first base, sap it of 30 points of batting average, and you have ... a guy.
On average last year, catchers hit for on base and slugging averages of roughly .299/.390. First baseman, roughly .330/.427. That's all catchers and first basemen, including backups and fill-ins.
In a little more than a year's worth of plate appearances as a first baseman, Mauer is hitting .274/.351/.372, including six home runs. That's not Joe Mauer 2009, (.365/.444/.587) but it's All-Star conversation from the squat. At first, it's barely adequate.
Mauer's defensive value nosedives as well, from Gold Glove receiver to least important player on the field.
The result: even hitting just .294 with nine home runs in his first full season, a year of offensive fireworks, Mauer earned the Twins three wins offensively. His last two seasons combined, even in an offensive trough and with 200 more at bats, just 1.7 wins. And 1.7 wins is barely a starter.
To be fair, Mauer is now in his 12th season at age 32, and certainly fading from the glory days. But more than anything, the combination of losing the .300 batting average and leaving the battery has cost him any shot at Hall of Fame consideration.
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