Glen Perkins and Joe Mauer graduated high school in 2001, competed against each other in All-Star Games before that, were teammates in others, and with Team USA. Then, after Perkins was the Twins first round draft pick in 2004, he joined the organization that made Mauer the No. 1 overall pick in 2001.

Perkins is a Stillwater graduate, Mauer Cretin-Derham Hall. They became close with the Twins, and remain that way today.

So, we figured it’d be great to pick Perkins’ brain as we await the Tuesday Hall of Fame announcement. Will Mauer be a first ballot Hall of Famer?

***Click the video box above to watch our conversation with Perkins***

Mauer is polling very well, per Adam Dore and Anthony Calamis. They keep track of every ballot revealed by voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. As of Thursday, there have been 175 ballots revealed out of an estimated 384. Of those, Mauer is on just over 83 percent of them. He needs 75 percent to get in.

Mauer was a six-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger Award winner, and three-time Gold Glove Award winner. He caught for 10 seasons and played first base for five. From 2006-2010, you can compare that stretch and Mauer’s numbers to any catcher in MLB history. It’s arguably the greatest stretch for a catcher, ever.

He batted over .300 eight times, finishing with a .306 career average and 2,123 hits, and he won three batting titles (2006, 2008, and 2009). In 2009, he took home the American League MVP Award.

Mauer last caught in 2013, moving to first base because of concussion issues. He suffered another concussion during the 2018 season and officially retired that November.