Joe Mauer was in the middle of another excellent season when he took a hard foul ball off the mask on August 19. He suffered a concussion and a month later he remains on the disabled list as attempts to come back have been stymied by dizziness and other symptoms.
Mauer has spent most of this week working out at home, away from the team, and general manager Terry Ryan told Jeff Kirshman of MLB.com that the Twins are encouraged enough by his progress that a Monday return is possible.
At the time of the concussion Mauer was hitting .324 with an .880 OPS in 113 games while throwing out a league-high 43 percent of steal attempts. Mauer’s normal backup, Ryan Doumit, is no longer catching this season due to a concussion of his own, so the Twins are going with rookies Josmil Pinto and Chris Herrmann behind the plate.
