The Minnesota Twins have their fifth American League Most Valuable Player in the history of the team. Joe Mauer joins Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Zoilo Versalles and Justin Morneau as Twins players who have won the award.

It’s well-deserved. Mauer may have had the best year any catcher has ever had.

Mauer won his third batting title and became the first AL player since George Brett in 1980 to lead the league in batting average (.365), on-base percentage (.444) and slugging percentage (.587). Some have dubbed this the modern triple crown, as stat gurus believe those categories — particularly on-base and slugging — are the true measures of a hitter’s production.

Add in a Gold Glove and the fact that he hit .378 after Justin Morneau went out with a bad back, leading the Twins to the American League Central title, and it’s pretty easy to see why Mauer was a near-unanimous pick.