Mauer getting high marks from umpires

FORT MYERS, FLA. -- Once Joe Mauer began playing in spring training games, umpires occasionally have walked over to the Twins' bench to tell the coaching staff how easy it is to work with Mauer.

Randy Marsh, entering his 22nd season as a major league umpire, speaks highly of Mauer.

"I've never seen a kid act so professional for being so young in my life," Marsh said Friday after working behind Mauer during the Twins' 7-5 victory over Toronto. "I was impressed with him last year when he was having one heck of a spring.

"He's a terrific kid to work behind. And he's a smart hitter. He takes what they give him. He doesn't try to force anything."

The umpire-catcher relationship during games should entail as little talk, and even less action, as possible.

An umpire wants an unencumbered line of sight to determine whether a pitch is a ball or strike. So the catcher should move as little as possible. It's not as easy as it sounds, especially when Mauer has to fold his 6-4 inch frame into a nice target for his pitcher.

"You hope that he gives you a good shot at the pitch, and he is not a little guy," Marsh, 54, said. "But he stays down very low. You can't ask for any more than that for a tall guy than to stay down there and present the pitch well so you can see it.

"Tall guys naturally try to come up. He doesn't. He's a terrific kid to work behind."

Mauer's communication skills, Marsh indicated, are similar to his hitting approach. Again, he doesn't force anything.

"He's such a polite kid," Marsh said. "He's more polite than any catcher I've ever seen in my life. He's like, 'Yes, sir, No, sir,' I understand that he has a background in sports, and he is a fine young man.

"If he would ask on a pitch, he would ask very politely so that no one would even notice he was asking it. When he throws the ball back [to the pitcher] is when he would get your take on where the pitch was."

Umpires are right where all the action is. They see which pitchers have the best stuff and which hitters handle themselves well in the clutch. Marsh is just as impressed with Mauer's makeup as his posture behind the plate.

"I understand that he was a good football player, too," said Marsh, who has worked three All-Star Games and three World Series. "I think that's a good combination as much as he's a polite young man and a smart catcher. He's a tough kid."

And he might be a welcomed change from his frequently combative predecessor, A.J. Pierzynski.

"Yeah," Marsh said. "A little bit. But you said that, not me."