Sid Hartman: Heel led to other injuries for Mauer

After watching Joe Mauer play six games in Fort Myers, Fla., Paul Molitor is convinced that the Twins catcher, who will return to action Friday after being inactive since April 12, is ready to return to his old form.

"It's been a long road for Joe, a lot of things he's been battling: shoulder, elbow, knees, other issues, but when I had a chance to see him, he looked good," said Molitor, the Hall of Famer who works with Twins players. "His timing was still a little off at the plate, not having had hit for a couple of months, but he threw the ball extremely well, moved extremely well, ran the bases well, and we all know that it doesn't take Joe a lot of at-bats to get ready. I'm anxious to see him get back here and help this team get back in the race."

Asked what injuries Mauer was dealing with, Molitor said he was told it was a combination of things -- with some of them, including shoulder ailments stemming from Mauer's heel injury last season, something that hadn't been mentioned before.

"I think that actually, his knee didn't rehab as quickly as possible after the surgery, causing some other problems that your body has the tendency to compensate for," Molitor said. "I think last year, when he hurt that heel I think that he changed his throwing motion, and it caused some problems with his shoulder and his elbow that have lingered into this season.

"He had to get back to a better foundation of throwing so he could alleviate those problems. Just not having enough time in spring training. To catch nine innings four or five times a week is just not something you can do without building up to it, so it's taken some time for him to get ready to play the position that he plays.

"Last year, he had some issues with his heel. I think that he couldn't use that foot to throw very well, and so his shoulder is taking a lot of stress. I think that was part of the reason, as well as some foul tips that he's taken over the years -- all those things accumulate over time."

Molitor added that Mauer looks good, feels good and is eager to get back and help the Twins as they continue their impressive rebound from a terrible start to the season.

Nishioka returned to the Twins lineup on Thursday, handling 11 plays at shortstop. He did commit an error but also started two double plays.

"I was impressed by how he handled playing short [at Fort Myers] after not having had any experience there this year [in spring training]," Molitor said. "The majority of his games in Japan were as a shortstop, so he knows the position. I think some people questioned, with the speed of the game over here, if his arm was strong enough to play it. But surprisingly, I shouldn't say surprisingly, but he threw the ball better, had more arm strength then I thought that he had coming out of spring training. I think he can make a lot of plays. He doesn't have the arm strength of [Danny] Valencia or Alexi Casilla but certainly enough to make all the plays at shortstop."

Referring to Nishioka's poor start before he broke his leg, Molitor said: "I thought he was very excited about the opportunity to come over here and make the transition to the major leagues. I think he put a lot of pressure on himself to make the Twins look good for selecting him, and even now, I think that he feels -- it was hard for him -- that he let everybody down by getting injured.

"But one thing I know in working with him the small amount I did this spring, when you tell him something, he picks up on it in a hurry, whether it's defensively, baserunning or hitting, he's very quick to learn. He wants to know how the game is different over here and how he can make himself a good player. He's still young. He might have a little trouble for a while transitioning here, but I have a lot of confidence he's going to be a very good player over here."

Molitor said he wouldn't be surprised if Nishioka got off to a somewhat slow start in his return after being out after breaking his leg. "Just because the game is different, it's a little faster now," Molitor said. "He's got the pressure of coming back from a major injury, which he's never had to experience before. But he's got great baseball savvy, great baseball instincts, and I think whatever adjustments he'll need to make, he'll do it over time."

Children were driven and bused to the campus.

This was another great move by Kill since he was named Gophers coach.

"This is our way to give back to the community a little bit," Kill said. "We're going to do our best so all the kids at our camp will have a great experience and gain some knowledge and skill in the sport of football.

"We couldn't have pulled this off without the help of many sponsors and others who jumped in and made this happen."

Jottings • As I reported here about a week and a half ago, the NFL will not permit the Vikings to put an income tax surcharge on the salaries of NFL players as part of the money needed to build a Vikings stadium. The NFL refused to comment about it in a story reported by the Star Tribune on Wednesday. But the facts are, there won't be any money to pay for the stadium coming from taxes on pro athletes who are members of a visiting team, especially NFL players. All pro athletes for the Vikings, Wild, Timberwolves and Twins already pay income taxes on the earnings they make here.