3. Joe Mauer
Outlier season: 2009 – 138 GP, .365 BA, 94 R, 28 HR, 96 RBI, 1 SB, 7.6 oWAR
Best otherwise: 2006 – 141 GP, .347-86-13-84-8, 6.2 oWAR
Career averages excluding outlier season: 129 GP, .309-66-9-53-5, 3.95 oWAR
Joe Mauer has been an excellent high contact hitter his entire professional career. His lifetime average is .312 and even now at 33 he’s hitting .295 in 2016. Mauer’s power numbers have been fairly sporadic throughout his career, though.
Never more so than his 2009 campaign, when he socked 28 dingers. It marked the first and only time in his life he hit more than 20 and was his highest mark since 2006 when he had 13. From the day Mauer entered the league in 2004 until now, only five times has he hit 10 or more home runs in a year.
His lowest total where he managed to register 450-plus at-bats came in 2014, when he went deep a mere four times. 2009 was special because Mauer was named AL MVP that season, but he also set personal bests in a number of ratio categories.
His .365/.444/.587 slash line and 1.031 OPS were all high marks in the AL that season, as well. Oddly enough, Mauer’s 76 walks that year were only the fourth most by him in a single season for the Twins’ franchise player.
Next: Chase Headley 's 2012