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Hall of Fame catcher Joe Mauer talks ABS and why the current state of framing is ruining the art

Hall of Fame catcher Joe Mauer talks ABS and why the current state of framing is ruining the art

Joe Mauer grew up in St. Paul, Minn., was the first overall pick in the 2001 draft out of high school by his hometown Twins and retired after the 2018 season as one of the greatest Twins players ever. He’s now a first-ballot Hall of Famer. 

These days, retired with his wife and three kids, Mauer stays busy in non-MLB activities, including next month’s American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe, where he’ll compete against more than 90 other celebrities and athletes including John Smoltz, Charles Barkley, Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo, Stephen Curry and Annika Sorenstam.

But that doesn’t mean he’s forgotten about his roots, nor has he missed how catching has changed even since he retired. Top of that list is the automatic balls and strikes system, or ABS, which uses radar to determine balls and strikes instead of a human umpire behind the plate. During spring training this year, MLB experimented with an ABS challenge system, the first time the equipment had been used in the major leagues. Commissioner Rob Manfred hopes to implement a challenge system with ABS for the regular season and playoffs as soon as next year. 

“Absolutely!” Mauer said with a small laugh when I asked if he’d have wanted the challenge system when he was a hitter. “You know, in certain situations. I think it could’ve been a wonderful option during my career. I felt like I had a pretty good understanding of the strike zone being a catcher and a hitter.” 

He did. Generally speaking, Mauer was considered one of the best hitters when it came to judging the strike zone at the plate. Through his prime (2006-13), Mauer hit .327 with a .410 on-base percentage and averaged 87 walks along with only 78 strikeouts per 700 plate appearances. 

“It was funny to see how different teams went about it when it was offered to them in spring training,” he told CBS Sports. “I think it’s kind of like base stealing, some guys you give the green light and some guys you give the red light. Some guys will get up there and think that everything is a ball and maybe use up those challenges.” 

That understanding of the strike zone isn’t absolute: each umpire has a different angle, a different view, a different perception. Some mess up more than others, but no one wants to make a mistake that swings the results of a game.

“Umpires are human. They miss calls just like we miss plays, so they’re out there trying to do their best to make the right call,” Mauer said. “If we can implement this system and be efficient with it and make the game better, then I’m definitely all for it.”

As far as framing, Mauer excelled in his prime. From 2008-11, 45 catchers logged at least 1,500 innings behind the plate. Mauer ranked eighth in framing value. At the top of that list were Brian McCann, Russell Martin and Yadier Molina. Mauer is in the Hall of Fame while McCann and Martin fell off the ballot last cycle. Molina feels likely to get in. So what did Mauer have that the others didn’t? Catchers, maybe more than anyone else, aren’t just the sum of their stats.

“It’s hard to measure, I’d say any player, but especially the catcher position [with only numbers],” Mauer said. “I know nowadays [stats] are trying to really dial in pitch framing and things like that but it’s hard. I think anybody that played against a guy like Yadi or a Buster Posey, they’re different players but, to me, were some of the best of the best in that catcher category. There’s things that they did that it’s hard to measure in a box score. Defensively, Yadi was about as good as it gets. And you talk about Buster Posey, I don’t think he got enough credit for it because his bat was so good.” 

Framing has evolved over the last several years, and Mauer doesn’t seem to think it’s for the better. You’ll see things like the catcher moving his glove from outside the strike zone into the zone and timing that up with when he catches the pitch. It’s a long, smooth motion, and the glove ends up in the middle of the strike zone even if that’s not where the pitch was. 

Is this taking away from the art of framing? 

“Maybe a little bit?” Mauer said. “I think the thing that I miss, it’s kind of getting taken away a little bit, is the relationship between a catcher and an umpire. For me, I always thought of my job as presenting the pitch and giving that umpire the best look possible to get strikes for my guy and I feel like nowadays with so much glove movement I think the art is kind of lost, to be honest. I think they’re trying to enhance it, but I also feel like, to me, that it’s trained to trick the umpire instead of working with him. I think there’s a lot of glove movement and, in my opinion, too much glove movement. But at the end of the day, you’re trying to get the best for your guy.”

He wanted to reiterate the part about how current framing seems more like deception. 

“I always thought working with an umpire was more to our advantage than trying to trick them,” Mauer said. “I just think there’s too much movement and jerking back into the zone. Framing for me was an art.”




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