27-year old lefty swinging catcher Joe Mauer exploded last season to win the A.L. MVP Award. He played in 138 games for the Twins last season and he was 191 of 523 (.365 avg, 1.023 OPS) with 94 runs scored, 28 homers and 96 RBIs. In Mauer’s first four full seasons with the Twins he never hit more than 13 homers in a year. The Twins were hoping that Mauer’s power was just beginning but it hasn’t converted to Target Field. Mauer has played in 67 games for the Twins so far this year and he is 75 of 250 (.300 avg, .806 OPS) with 40 runs scored, 3 homers and 34 RBIs. If Mauer hits around .315 with 10-15 homers this season the Twins will probably be happy with him. Last year’s power appears to have been a mirage.

27-year old lefty Brian Duensing burst onto the scene for the Twins last season. He pitched in 24 games (9 starts) for the Twins in 2009 and he was 5-2 with a 3.64 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP. But the rotation was pretty full this spring so Duensing agreed to pitch out of the bullpen where he has been awesome. Duensing has pitched in 30 games (0 starts) for the Twins this year and he is 2-1 with a 1.95 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP. It will be interesting to see if the Twins can resist the urge to use Duesing as a starter in the near future if Nick Blackburn keeps pitching B.P.

24-year old righty swinging Delmon Young was the key player the Twins got in return for shortstop Jason Bartlett and starting pitcher Matt Garza three winters ago. Young didn’t play awful in his first two years with the Twins but the team expected more out of him. That’s exactly they’re getting out of him right now. Young has played in 59 games for the Twins this year and he is 57 of 195 (.292 avg, .826 OPS) with 28 runs scored, 8 homers, 41 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He has career highs of 80 runs scored, 13 homers and 93 RBIs for a season in his major league career and he’s on a pace to eclipse all of those numbers in 2010 which would make the Twins’ brass very happy with him.

The Twins are currently talking to the Red Sox about Mike Lowell and they really need to make a trade for a legit starting 3B because they are wasting time and losing some games they shouldn’t because they keep giving at bats to Nick Punto and Brendan Harris who have both been awful this season. Punto is one of the “Pirahnas” but he’s hitting like a Goldfish this season. He has played in 47 games for the Twins this year and he is 29 of 131 (.221 avg, .585 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 13 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Brendan Harris has played in 40 games for the Twins this year and he is 17 of 106 (.160 avg, .454 OPS) with 10 runs scored, 1 homer and 4 RBIs. I know that one of the reasons these two guys continue to play is that they remind Ron Gardenhire of himself. Gardenhire played five years for the Mets in his playing career appearing in 285 games in which he was 165 of 710 (.232 avg, .573 OPS) with 57 runs scored, 4 homers, 49 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. But Gardenhire shouldn’t be players that remind himself of his playing days because he was not a good player.

The Twins have placed starting shortstop J.J. Hardy on the 15-day disabled list with a sore left wrist. Hardy has played in 37 games for the Twins this year and he is 30 of 138 (.217 avg, .599 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 3 homers and 13 RBIs. The Twins have recalled 23-year old righty swinging shortstop Trevor Plouffe to replace Hardy at SS. Plouffe was the Twins’ #24 rated prospect heading into this season according to Baseball America. Plouffe has played in 53 games in AAA-ball this year and he is 60 of 214 (.280 avg, .791 OPS) with 33 runs scored, 6 homers, 30 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Plouffe played in 3 games earlier for the Twins in which he was 3 of 13 (.231 avg, .522 OPS) with 1 run scored and 3 RBIs.