1. Many of Mauer’s home runs were wall scrapers that barely snuck out in the exact same spot in left-center field. He used to hit it there all the time, they just bounced in front of the wall for doubles. It could be he’s a little stronger now entering his physical prime, and his ball is just carrying slightly farther, which is making a big difference.

2. That spot in left-center field is notably shallow in the Twins new stadium. It’s almost a little Mauer home-run porch out there to the opposite field.

3. Mauer did show a new propensity to turn on pitches occasionally last year, something he never ever used to try to do. he hit a few huge home runs this way.

Ultimately, I’d expect his power to come back to earth somewhat, but 20 HR for the next several years is pretty likely, I think.

The 8′ wall is left is much better, but 377 in the alley could be problematic as well.

I don’t know what I expect, but I’d say it’s pretty sure that we’ll see a bit of regression in the power department.

On the other hand, hitters’ power can peak later (I think I read somewhere the median is 31 or so.)

I think he’ll hold onto enough of this improvement – and his position – to be in serious contention for greatest catcher of all time a decade hence.

Typically, the skill to drive the ball opposite field with extreme prejudice is seen as a net positive in baseball coaching circles (in my experience). It’s easier to pull an inside pitch with power than it is to drive an outside pitch the opposite way. I think anecdotal evidence will back this up — why do you think pitchers generally live on the outside part of the plate? Also, more homers are generally pulled as opposed to being driven.

My coaches always tried to get players to work on opposite field power, telling us that on inside pitches you can drop your hands down quickly and yank the ball out. In short, you can mis-evaluate an inside pitch and still strike it violently. There is less margin for error on ourside stuff.

So maybe it’s a good thing that Mauer’s power is coming this way. It’s possible that he’s going to focus on being more aggressive on inside pitches this year, and will further get power, especially on inside pitches. He doesn’t really inside-out the ball like Jeter does — most of his oppo-field homers were on outer half pitches. I suspect his opposite field power regresses some (to around a 175 ISO level, or so), but he starts yanking inside pitches down the line a little more. I bet he puts up about 25-30 homers, with a slightly lower ISO overall next year.

Joe “Maw-ah!” could make things right again from that perspective, so I’m all for it.