…and with that, I’ve fulfilled my obvious headline quota for the week. Buster Posey put up a strong first half, hitting .289/.362/.458 across 312 plate appearances. His performance was good enough to earn him his first career all-star nod. But Buster Posey has been on an absolute tear in the second half of the season. Among players with at least 30 at-bats since the all-star break, Posey’s 1.287 OPS leads the majors. After yesterday’s two-hit performance, Posey has now raised his season OPS by exactly 100 points; he currently boasts an overall line of .325/.391/.529, which is good for a 149 wRC+ and 161 OPS+. If the season ended today, that OPS+ would rank as the 11th highest single-season mark ever by a catcher. After missing most of 2011 following that devastating ankle injury — which, for all we know has had pretty substantial lingering effects, Posey is having a season of historically good proportions.
San Francisco Giants history isn’t exactly rife with great catchers. There’s no Johnny Bench, or Carlton Fisk, or Yogi Berra. Instead, there’s Dick Dietz, Tom Haller, and Bob Brenly — that’s probably the big three. Then again, the Giants have been playing in San Francisco for more than fifty years now, and they’ve cycled through countless catchers in that time. In that context, Posey’s season is even more impressive. Through 96 games, Posey has tallied 4.1 rWAR. Even though there are still 55 games left to play, Posey is already within a fraction of a win of the best season ever by a San Francisco Giants catcher:
| Rk | Player | WAR/pos | Year | Age | G | PA | AB | HR | Pos | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dick Dietz | 4.2 | 1970 | 28 | 148 | 612 | 493 | 22 | .300 | .426 | .515 | .941 | *2 |
| 2 | Buster Posey | 4.1 | 2012 | 25 | 96 | 396 | 348 | 16 | .325 | .391 | .529 | .920 | *23/D |
| 3 | Buster Posey | 3.7 | 2010 | 23 | 108 | 443 | 406 | 18 | .305 | .357 | .505 | .862 | *23 |
| 4 | Tom Haller | 3.7 | 1967 | 30 | 141 | 528 | 455 | 14 | .251 | .344 | .415 | .759 | *2/9 |
| 5 | Bob Brenly | 3.5 | 1984 | 30 | 145 | 567 | 506 | 20 | .291 | .352 | .464 | .816 | *23/97 |
| 6 | Dick Dietz | 3.5 | 1971 | 29 | 142 | 558 | 453 | 19 | .252 | .387 | .419 | .806 | *2 |
| 7 | Tom Haller | 3.4 | 1962 | 25 | 99 | 332 | 272 | 18 | .261 | .384 | .515 | .899 | *2 |
| 8 | Tom Haller | 3.2 | 1966 | 29 | 142 | 536 | 471 | 27 | .240 | .323 | .461 | .783 | *2/3 |
| 9 | Ed Bailey | 3.2 | 1963 | 32 | 105 | 361 | 308 | 21 | .263 | .366 | .494 | .859 | *2 |
| 10 | Kirt Manwaring | 3.0 | 1992 | 26 | 109 | 389 | 349 | 4 | .244 | .311 | .335 | .646 | *2 |
Reminder: this is Buster Posey’s first full season in the majors.
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5 Responses to Buster Posey’s Having A Really Good Season
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You beat Chris Quick to it! I hope Buster stays a catcher long enough to be the best Giants catcher ever. At this rate, it’ll only take a couple years, and “Greatest Giants catcher ever” sounds better than “Fourth greatest Giants first baseman ever.”
Yeah, I’m hoping he remains there for the foreseeable future. This season has made me very confident in his ability (health-wise) to stick behind the plate long-term.
Hmm…I hope people don’t think you’re talking to yourself. We just both happen to have the best name there is.
Haha, that did occur to me. Sure is an excellent name though.
[...] Anyway, Buster Posey provided the Giants with all the run support they’d need, knocking a three-run blast in the first inning off of Lance Lynn. His scorching hot second half continues… [...]