Home Run Watch: Joe Mauer v. Jesus Montero

I noted last week that Yankees' call-up Jesus Montero had homered 2 times in his first 13 professional at-bats. The kid, so far, seems "as advertised." It's like he's the second coming of, well, Jesus. As if the Yankees needed more to brag about, Montero homered again Friday night against the Angels, giving him 3 home runs in 26 at-bats. He has 6 RBIs in that span, as well.

Our own Joe Mauer showed a little power in the Twins' nationally televised game on Saturday against the Tigers. A solo home run gave him 3 for the year. Joe has 290 at bats so far, and 30 RBIs. Mauer had a good game Saturday, going 2-for-3 with a walk. If non-Twins fans or casual baseball fans happened to be flipping channels Saturday, they might have watched Mauer and assumed he was having the kind of season Twins fans have become accustomed to. It was refreshing to see him hit the ball with authority.

I think it's a relatively safe bet that Montero, either DHing or catching, will pass Mauer in home runs before the season is over. I pledge to keep my readers informed.

Now a few links. I have had trouble the past week or so coming up with worthy Twins content, but luckily others have not.

Seth Stohs has a great post today on the Twins' coaches, and suggested off-season managerial moves.

NoDak Twins Fan profiles the strikeout struggles thus far for one of my favorite prospects, Joe Benson.

Aaron Gleeman validly questions whether this might be the worst Twins season ever. I think yes.

Parker Hageman has a great profile of some possible 2012 MLB draft selections, as it appears that the Twins are on their way to a top 3 pick this year.