2010 Rookie Spotlight: Buster Posey

Buster Posey

San Francisco Giants #28
Pos: C/1B
Born: March 27, 1987 in Leesburg, GA (age 23)
Bats: R Throws: R
Height: 6’1” Weight: 205lbs

Posey has always been a highly-touted player. Coming out of Lee County High School in Georgia, he won the Gatorade Player of the Year, Louisville Slugger State Player of the Year and he was an EA Sports All-American. This led him to sign a letter of intent to attend Florida State University.

Posey began his first season (2006) with the Seminoles playing shortstop. In his freshman season for FSU he was phenomenal, batting .346 with four homeruns and 48 RBI. That year he was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American for his stellar play. His sophomore season with the ‘Noles is when he moved to his current position of catcher. In just his first season as a catcher, he was second in voting for the Johnny Bench Award for the best catcher in collegiate baseball. He batted .382 with three homeruns and 65 RBI. As a junior in 2008, Posey tore up NCAA pitching. He had a monster year, batting .463 with 26 homeruns and 93 RBI. He brought home plenty of hardware that year, bringing home the Johnny Bench Award, the Dick Howser Award, the Golden Spikes Award and he was named the 2008 Collegiate Player of the Year. His spectacular 2008 season led to him being drafted by the San Francisco Giants with the fifth overall pick on June 5, 2008. Right before the deadline, the Giants signed Posey to a $6.2 million bonus, the largest in history at the time.

After signing the contract, Posey was sent to the Giants Rookie League team in Arizona. In seven games with the team, he batted .385 with a homerun and four RBI. He also had a very high OBP (.484) and SLG (.692). After playing in the Rookie League, he was sent to the Northwest League to play with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, the A- Class team for the Giants. He had a very short three-game stint with the club.

The Giants invited Posey to Spring Training in 2009. At the end of camp, he was sent to their A+ Class team, the San Jose Giants. He played 80 games for San Jose in 2009 and performed well. He had some gaudy numbers with a .326 BA and a great .428 OBP. His power numbers started to come around with 13 homeruns, 58 RBI and 23 doubles to go with a respectable six stolen bases. His defense was impressive, throwing out 49% of potential base-stealers and only making two errors in 64 games behind the plate.

The young catcher was then sent to the AAA Fresno Grizzlies of the Pacific Coast League. With the jump of going from A to AAA, Posey did not miss a beat. He still showed his great hitting ability, batting .321 with a .391 OBP to go with a .511 SLG. In 35 games with the Grizzlies, he had five homeruns, 22 RBI and eight doubles. His reputation as a catcher was an asset to his game, as less guys tried to steal against him. With AAA in 2009, he threw out 38% of the baserunners, but did make four errors. He was becoming an all-around player and the Giants were getting the pressure of the contract to bring the up-and-coming star up to the big club.

The Giants starting catcher Bengie Molina was injured and left the door open for Posey, who was called up to the big club on September 2, 2009. He finally made his first appearance as a pinch hitter on September 11 against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park. Although in that AB he struck out, the fans were excited to finally see their future star on the field. Eight days later against those same Dodgers, Posey finally got his first hit of many in the big leagues. Before the end of the season, Posey got his second hit against the Diamondbacks, and as the season ended, Posey was ready for the big time.

In the offseason, there were talks of Posey becoming the everyday starter for the Giants in 2010. Those plans were derailed with the signing of Aubrey Huff (1B) and resigning of Bengie Molina (C). Those options gave the Giants the decision to send Posey to back AAA, where he went off. In 47 games this season, he had great numbers, including a .349 AVG, .442 OBP and a .552 SLG. His production numbers of six homeruns and 32 RBI were respectable enough to earn a call back up to the big club.

The Giants called him up for their May 29 game against the Arizona Dimondbacks. He made a big splash for the 2010 season in his season debut. While playing first base, Posey went 3-4 with three RBI. On June 9 against the Cincinnati Reds, he finally got his first big league homerun against Aaron Harang. Posey has tailed off a little since that wonderful 2010 debut. In 20 games this season, Posey has a .303 AVG, .338 OBP and a .421 SLG. He also has four 2B and seven RBI on the season. The Giants plan to use him at both 1B and C, but expect him to get the full-time catching by the end of the season if they fall out of the race, but if not, definitely by next season.