you keep simple and keep it small or short, there's not a lot of holes in it and not a lot of room for errors." A stand-out in baseball, Mauer struck out only once during his four-year high school career, and hit .605 during his senior season. Years later, Mauer laughingly told an interviewer: "I can remember the time I did strike out. It was junior year, and it was in the state tournament. I came back to the bench and everybody thought something was wrong with me." Mauer's high school batting average exceeded .500 every year. He also set a Minnesota high school record and tied the national preps mark by hitting a home run in seven consecutive games. Mauer caught for the Team USA Junior National team from 1998 to 2000 and hit .595 during his final year on the team. He was voted best hitter at the World Junior Baseball Championship in Canada in . In , Mauer was voted the United States District V Player of the Year. Basketball Mauer averaged more than 20 points a game as a point guard for Cretin-Derham Hall. He was also named to the All-State team during his final two years on Cretin-Derham's basketball team. Football Mauer had an accomplished high school football career. In 2000, he appeared in the Faces in the Crowd section in Sports Illustrated. During his senior season as the Raiders' quarterback, Mauer completed 178 of 269 passes (66% completion percentage), for 3,022 yards, 41 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He finished his two-year career as a starter with 5,528 yards and 73 touchdowns, leading the Raiders to two consecutive Class 5A State Championship Game appearances and winning the title in 1999, the Raiders' first of all time. Mauer was honored as the 2001 Gatorade National Player of the Year, was named to the USA Today All-USA high school football team, was honored as USA Today's Player of the Year, was a Reebok/ESPN High School All-American, and was awarded Player of the Year for the game that would go on to be known as the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Mauer was also named National High School Quarterback of the Year in 2000 by The National Quarterback Club. Professional career After committing to play football at Florida State University, Mauer ultimately decided instead to enter the Major League Baseball Draft. Mauer was selected by the Twins as the