Referring to Joe Mauer as "Average Joe" during the past two years has been a disparagement – a reference to his utterly pedestrian performance, which could only generously be described as mediocre in comparison to his peers at first base.
But that's not how he earned the nickname. In his earlier days, and even all the way up until his tenure at catcher ended in 2013, it was a nod to his extraordinary, elite ability to hit for average. Mauer led the American League in that category three times in four years from 2006 through 2009, and his lifetime batting average (.313) ranks third among active players, trailing only surefire Hall of Famers Miguel Cabrera and Ichiro Suzuki.
Obviously, that aspect of his game has been amiss these last two seasons, in which Mauer has batted .277 and .265 respectively. But this year we're seeing early signs that Average Joe might be back, and the positive implications of that would stretch well beyond the nostalgic charm of seeing his BA start with a three.
