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Joe Mauer was 20 and in his third professional season when he was promoted to New Britain, the Twins' Class AA farm club. The upgrade in competition at Class AA long has been considered the make-it or break-it point for players in their attempt to ascend to the big leagues.
General Manager Terry Ryan asked Tom Kelly, the former Twins manager, to make a scouting trip to watch Mauer's first few games with the Rock Cats.
"In his first at-bat, Joe was late and fouled the ball almost straight back," Kelly said. "In his second at-bat, he was not quite as late and hit the ball way foul to left. He kept catching up to the increased speed of Double-A, and by the middle of the second game, he was hitting line drives to the middle of the field.
"I called Terry and said, 'I wouldn't worry. Mauer's going to be fine here."
Mauer batted .341 in 2½ months at New Britain and was the Twins starting catcher at age 21 to open the 2004 season.
"That's an unusual case, of course … to get up to speed as quickly as Joe," Kelly said. "We've had other guys who wound up having outstanding careers, like Torii [Hunter], who had to spend two years at the same level, who had to go back to Triple-A after they had been in the majors.
"And some hitters, they put big numbers in the minors with a swing that is a little long, a little loopy, and they are never able to quicken it up."
There is no process in major professional team sports in North America that compares to becoming a competent big-league hitter. There are exceptions — Joe Mauer of the previous decade, Mike Trout of this decade, to name two — with the talent to make rapid adjustments and sweep through a farm system.
For most hitters, the journey starting with rookie ball turns into a magnificent and often painful drama: a requirement to improve five times, to speed up the bat five times, in order to find success in the big leagues.
"If you're a great athlete, you can walk onto an NFL field and play," said Mike Radcliff, the Twins vice president of player personnel. "If you're LeBron James, you can come out of high school and be one of the best basketball players in the world. You see young guys come out of the draft and play in the NHL.
"In our game, you can be the greatest athlete in the world, but that doesn't mean you can hit. And if you can't hit, you aren't going to make it."
As a senior at Cretin-Derham Hall in 2000-01, Mauer was baseball's No. 1 draft choice as a catcher, the nation's No. 1 quarterback recruit, and a 6-foot-4 guard who could have played at least mid-major level basketball.
Toughest sport to excel?
"Baseball … absolutely," Mauer said. "In the minors, the pitchers keep getting better, and you have to keep getting better.
"And even when you do everything right, you still can come up short. The ball still is going to get caught more often than not."
Starting pitcher Phil Hughes was the 23rd overall choice for the Yankees out of high school in 2004. He was in the big leagues by 2007 and made 13 starts.
"The process is different for a pitcher," Hughes said. "Most guys are signed because they have a couple of good pitches. The process becomes commanding a third pitch.
"I only had three games at the lowest level [Gulf Coast League] after I signed in '07, and the next year, the Yankees started me in Class A.
"I never really had to struggle in the minors. In the long run, that probably hurt me, because I did my struggling in the big leagues. It was like, 'What's this? What's going on here?' "
Hughes smiled and said: "Baseball is hard. At some point, we all find that out."
Patrick Reusse can be heard 3-6 p.m. weekdays on AM-1500. • preusse@startribune.com
