So here you have it, the first in what I hope will be a fun weekly series debating the Fantasy value of two players who are at the top of their game; fill out a roster or are just fun to debate between.

This week we start with a tough one. Two young catchers in separate leagues, each with a great track record and wonderful career still ahead.

It is Joe Mauer versus Russell Martin in our first Player Versus Player Challenge. So read on, comment lots and vote in our poll. Next week we will crown a champ and start on a new debate in what will hopefully be a great ongoing series.

Joe Mauer
Minnesota Twins
Position: C Height: 6-4 Weight: 215 Born: 4/19/83 Bats: Left Throws: Right

Background
The Twins had the first pick in the 2001 draft. The consensus best player on the board was USC right-hander Mark Prior, but his bonus demands were unclear, and Minnesota has a bad history of not being able to sign draft picks. The second-best player available was high school catcher Joe Mauer, with whom the Twins were very familiar, for he was a local boy, from St. Paul. While high school catchers taken at the top of the draft have a poor track record, Mauer was a special athlete, with a Florida State quarterback scholarship in his pocket. Unwilling to gamble on Prior’s signability, the Twins pulled the trigger on Mauer, and convinced him to forgo the gridiron. He is now the best long-term catching prospect in baseball.

Scouting report
Physically, Mauer is a better athlete than some shortstops. He has excellent mobility behind the plate, a very strong arm, and terrific hand-eye coordination. He still needs experience calling a game, but he is intelligent and is picking that up. He will continue to be a Gold Glove catcher in time.

Offensively, he hits a lot to the opposite field, but has enough bat speed, quickness through the zone, and physical strength to hit for power as he matures. He already hits for average. His strike zone judgment is stellar: he draws lots of walks, seldom strikes out, and projects as a .300+ hitter up the ladder. Scouts and coaches rave about his work ethic and personality makeup.

Mauer owns a career professional batting average of .314, with a .395 on-base percentage. His power has just been marginal to this point, but given his tremendous strike-zone judgment, and great physical strength, his home run totals should increase as he learns to pull the ball. There is nothing in his numbers to indicate struggle ahead; the numbers match up with his strong scouting reports very well indeed.

Career Highlights
Following his injury-shortened 2004, Mauer signed a contract for $5.7 million with the Twins on January 24, 2005. In 2005, Mauer returned to the Twins’ lineup for his first full major league season and had 144 hits in 131 games, and ended the year with an average of .294.

In 2006, Mauer’s performance during the months of May and June garnered attention from the national media. He recorded a .528 average over the first ten days of June and hit .452 over the course of the month. He was also the first player since Mike Piazza in 1997 to reach base four or more times for five consecutive games. On June 12, Mauer was named the American League Player of the Week by Major League Baseball for his performance the week of June 4-11, during which he hit .625 (15-for-24) with 5 doubles, 4 RBI and 2 stolen bases.

Mauer recorded his first five-RBI game June 26, against the Los Angeles Dodgers.[8] Mauer followed that up with his first career five-hit game June 27, also against the Los Angeles Dodgers.[8]He was also named Player of the Month for June after batting .452 with a .624 slugging percentage and .528 on base percentage, 11 doubles, 14 RBI and 18 runs. Along with Johan Santana (Pitcher of the Month) and Francisco Liriano (Rookie of the Month), Mauer was part of the first-ever single-team sweep of MLB’s three monthly awards. On July 2, Mauer was selected by the players to his first All-Star Game. Mauer appeared on the cover of the August 7, 2006 issue of Sports Illustrated (Mauer was appropriately voted “Most Likely to Be on the Cover of Sports Illustrated” in his high school senior yearbook poll).

Mauer finished the 2006 regular season with a .347 batting average, edging the Yankees’ Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano to win the American League batting title and become the first-ever American League catcher to win the crown and the first catcher to claim the title since Ernie Lombardi in 1942 with the Boston Braves. His .347 average was the highest in the American League, a feat not achieved by the previous three catchers to win NL batting titles. He was the youngest to win a batting title since Alex Rodriguez in 1996.

After going 2-for-4 in the last game of the 2006 regular season, Mauer confessed to reporters, “When I told you I wasn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t thinking about the batting title? I was lying. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve never been that nervous in my life. I haven?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t felt anything like that since Opening Day as a rookie.?¢‚Ǩ¬ù

Mauer won his first Silver Slugger award in 2006, announced on November 10, 2006, along with teammate Justin Morneau, who also won a Silver Slugger award that year.

On February 11, 2007, Mauer agreed to a four-year, $33 million contract with the Twins to avoid arbitration. The deal ensures that Mauer will remain in Minnesota long enough to play in the Twins’ new outdoor stadium in 2010.

On July 21, 2007, Mauer hit his first career inside-the-park home run against Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher Scot Shields. It was his fifth home run of the season, and there were two players on base when he hit the homer. It was the first inside-the-park home run by a catcher since Kelly Stinnett did it for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2005.

Joe Mauer Links - ESPN Scouting Report; Wikipedia; Current ESPN Profile

Russell Martin
Los Angeles Dodgers
Position: C Height: 5-100 Weight: 210 Born: 2/15/83 Bats: Right Throws: Right

Background
Martin was born in East York, Ontario. He grew up in Chelsea, Quebec, Canada and lived in Paris, France from the age of 8-10. Martin has an African-Canadian father, Russell Martin Sr., and a white, French-Canadian mother, singer and actress, Suzanne Jeanson. His parents separated when he was only two years old. “I don’t really remember when my parents separated, and it’s probably better that way because I know kids these days go through some tough times,” says Martin. His father used to play saxophone in Montreal subway stations to help pay for his baseball training. Along with playing baseball in the Montreal neighborhood of Notre-Dame-De-Gr?ɬ¢ce, Martin played hockey for N.D.G Minor Hockey, where glimpses of his future all-star athleticism could be seen. He graduated from Polyvalente Edouard-Montpetit High School, which was the same high school attended by former teammate Eric Gagn?ɬ©. After graduating from high school, Martin took a junior college scholarship at Chipola College in Marianna, Florida.

Scouting Report
Weekly Rating trends don’t get much more boring than that of the Los Angeles Dodgers catcher, Russell Martin. The Baseball Lab didn’t think highly enough of Martin coming into the season, having ranked him in the Top 10, but nowhere near the fantasy stud he became.

Martin of course, finished #1 among catchers on the Player Rater, and spend just 7 of the 26 weeks ranked outside that top spot. Of qualifying catchers, he finished 2nd in Runs Scored, 3rd in Batting Average and Home Runs, 4th in RBI, and 1st in Stolen Bases. Other catchers may come close to matching his power and run scoring stats, but Martin was the only backstop with over 10 stolen bases, let alone 20, a number he topped in September.

Heading into 2007 there was certainly cause to be cautious with Martin.

After a hot start that found him batting .296 / .374 / .496 through June, Martin more than leveled off putting up a line of .279 / .348 / .418 the rest of the way. Good numbers for a catcher, but were they numbers to spend a high draft pick on?

In ‘06 Martin was just 23 years old, and his final season stat line of .282, 10 HR, 65 R, 65 RBI, and 10 SB in 121 games was very promising for sure. He had been mid-rated prospect taken in the 17th round of the 2002 draft (and as a third basemen) and really didn’t show up as a consensus “good prospect” until 2005 after he bated .311 / .430 / .423 in AA-ball.

Add it all up and we had a third basemen turned catcher, who came out of the minors with ability to hit for average with middling power, who also happened to struggle for the last 3 1/2 months of the season. Who was the real Martin? How much slack do you give a 23 year old starting catcher - after all, he had to run an entire pitching staff which was much more important than holding down the 8th spot in the lineup. We apparently didn’t give him enough.

A positive sign was Martin’s work in the 2006 playoffs. His batting line was solid, not great, but good enough (he went 4-12, 2 runs scored) for a team that was easily swept in the 1st round. More importantly, Martin looked like he belonged. He was relaxed behind the plate, played very well on defense, and more than one pundit proclaimed that Martin was a future budding star.

The consensus stats did not agree - a comparison of his 2007 projections to actual stats:

Martin easily bettered the prediction of each scoring category, even when adjusting for the actual amount playing time.

So what does 2008 hold in store for Martin. Odds are he will be a top 5 catcher again, but I also also expect good years from Joe Mauer, Victor Martinez, and Brian McCann which will increase the competition.

Additionally, I am not sure how long Martinez is going to be able to run as much as he has. Since 1980, there have only been 11 catchers seasons of 20 stolen bases or more, and of the three players to duplicate the feat (Jason Kendall, Craig Biggio, John Wathan) none had as much power as Martin. Finally, he played in 151 games (145 behind the plate) and this is an extremely high number for a catcher, and it will be hard for martin to play in 93% of his teams games again.

As a result, don’t expect another 20 SB from him next year. And what does this do to his value? Given the same stat line just with 10 SB instead of 20, Martin becomes the 3rd best catcher of ‘07, soundly behind Martinez and a shade behind Posada. Count on perhaps 80 R, 85 RBI, 20 HR, and 10-15 SB next year and don’t break the bank on thinking he’ll be the definite #1 catcher of 2008.

Career Highlights

In 2002, Martin was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 17th round. Martin was originally a third baseman before switching to catcher after a scout saw him playing for the Gulf Coast Dodgers in Rookie Ball and thought he showed more promise in that position. He was rated the best high school catcher in North America in the April 2002 Sporting News. Martin was a Florida State League All-Star catcher while with the Vero Beach Dodgers in 2004 and Baseball America 2nd Team Minor League All-Star and Southern League All-Star while with the Jacksonville Suns in 2005.

Although Martin was touted as a future major league player, in early 2005 the Dodgers acquired another developing catcher, Dioner Navarro. In early 2006, Martin traveled to the off-season home of pitcher Eric Gagn?ɬ©, his teammate and fellow native of Montreal. Martin had expressed an interest in playing for Canada in the World Baseball Classic, but Gagn?ɬ© advised him not to let anything get in the way of preparing to play in his first Major League season. Neither player participated in the Classic.

Both Martin and Navarro were invited to spring training in 2006. Both played well, but at the end of the spring Navarro was named the Dodgers’ catcher, and Martin was sent to the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s. While Martin thrived in Las Vegas, Navarro played only adequately in Los Angeles, and showed signs of inexperience.

On May 5, 2006, Martin was called up to the Dodgers after a wrist injury landed Navarro on the disabled list. He got two hits (including a double) in the game. His first hit was against Chris Capuano. The team has performed well since Martin’s arrival; he has played well both offensively and defensively, and he has gained the trust of the pitchers. On the May 7 game he hit his first major league home run against the Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Dave Bush. On June 6, 2006, Martin and Gagn?ɬ© made baseball history by becoming the first French-Canadian battery in the majors.

On June 26, 2006, Navarro was traded to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, a move which was likely made to give Navarro some playing time somewhere else. On August 13, 2006, Martin hit his first career walk-off home run in a victory that completed a sweep of the rival San Francisco Giants. On September 18, 2006, Martin hit a solo home run off of Trevor Hoffman, the third of four consecutive home runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to tie the San Diego Padres, it was the first time four home runs have been hit in a row since the 1964 Minnesota Twins.

Martin has excelled since taking over the starting catcher’s job. He has exceeded a batting average, but is fast enough to steal bases, a rarity for a catcher.In May 2007, Martin made his debut on the National League All-Star Game ballot at fourth place, despite leading National League catchers in most offensive categories and matching or exceeding ballot rivals in defense. By June 26, he had made up a 140,100 vote deficit from ballot-leading Paul Lo Duca, the Dodgers’ former catcher now playing for the Mets, and was 214,114 votes ahead of him. That same month he broke the Dodgers’ franchise record for single-season steals by a catcher (12) set by John Roseboro in 1962. On July 1 it was announced that Martin finished in first place in All-Star Game voting, leading Lo Duca by 296,948 votes. He became the first ever Canadian born catcher to start the All-Star Game. At the end of the 2007 season, he was awarded with the National League Gold Glove Award and the Silver Slugger award.

Russell Martin Links - Sweet Lou’s; Wikipedia; Current ESPN Profile

So who would you choose for your fantasy team if all else was equal. I know my vote and I already cast it. Vote away please.

Sphere: Related Content





 Print This Post