Joe Mauer has been making news with his left knee problem but his grandfather told Sports Headliners the Twins catcher is headed for an exceptional season even by Mauer standards.
“I know he’s going to have a big year,” Jake Mauer said. “He’s bigger, he’s stronger. I think he’s looking forward more (to the season) this year than he did last year because of the goals he’s set. He wants to be the batting crown champion again. He wants to be the Most Valuable Player again.”
Mauer is a three-time American League batting champion and won the AL MVP award in 2009. At 27, he’s likely approaching his best years.
This week, perhaps today, Jake expects Joe to catch for the first time in a 2011 spring training game. “He’s snapping at the bit, boy,” Jake said.
Joe had off-season knee surgery and has since experienced soreness, but most recently has been okay, according to his grandfather who is wintering in southwest Florida. Jake said his grandson has stopped taking the synthetic lubricant Supartz for the soreness.
If Mauer irritates the knee he will take more of the substance. “He may hurt it running, he may hurt it sliding or something,” Jake said.
His grandfather said talk that Joe has been working out at first base are “not true.”