SAN FRANCISCO–All Buster Posey has ever done is win.
Everyone knows the role Posey played on three Giants’ World Series teams, but even before he reached the Major League level, Posey was typically on the side of the diamond that went home happy.
In college at Florida State, Posey’s Seminoles averaged more than 47 victories per season over his three-year career, while never losing more than 17 in a single campaign. During his summers, Posey played in the Cape Cod Baseball League, where he won two championships in the most prestigious summer circuit in America with the Yarmouth-Denis Red Sox.
Before college, Posey was a high school pitcher and shortstop, and when he was on the mound, he controlled the outcome. In 13 starts as a senior, Posey went 12-0, recording a 1.06 earned run average.
So to say the Giants’ 2017 season is atypical for Posey is, quite obviously, an understatement.
Yet even though his club improved to 45-70 on Tuesday evening, a staggering 25 games below .500, Posey himself is playing winning baseball.
While Posey’s play –both offensively and defensively–isn’t necessarily contagious, there’s no doubt he’s the most complete player on the diamond almost every time he takes the field.
On Tuesday night, against a team of World Series winners that included 2016 National League MVP Kris Bryant and three-time All-Star Anthony Rizzo, Posey again exerted his dominance, carrying the Giants to a 6-3 win.
Posey’s three-run first inning home run was the first three-run blast by a Giants’ position player at AT&T Park this season, and his 12th home run of the year.
“Sure it does (help),” Posey said, when asked if scoring early gave the Giants a lift. “Anytime you can get a few runs in the first you feel good going forward.”
Two things to keep in mind about Posey’s home run: 1) It came off of Cubs’ left-hander Jose Quintana. 2) It came on a night on which Posey was playing first base.
Against lefties this season, Posey is a .375 hitter. When he plays first base, Posey is hitting a sensational .444.
In the eighth inning of the Giants’ win on Tuesday, Posey also stole his fifth base of the season, making him a perfect 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts on the year. Without having to squat and call pitches, Posey admitted his legs felt fresh.
“There’s a fine line I think just because if I haven’t played first in awhile, just the side-to-side movement or stretching to catch a throw is different than movements that would be behind the plate,” Posey said. “But it’s hard to say. It definitely is less taxing than being behind the plate.”
There’s a certain contingent of folks who want Posey to become a full-time first baseman, and drop catching altogether. While it’s a valuable thought experiment, it’s not going to happen, at least any time soon. Posey wants to catch, and the Giants’ management will listen to its franchise cornerstone. The naysayers will argue that ownership cuts the checks. In reality, Posey cuts theirs.
Nevertheless, Posey may find himself at first base more frequently this August and September, and not for the reason you might think. While the Giants know it’s wise to give Posey a breather from catching in a season that won’t end in a playoff berth, manager Bruce Bochy said as recently as Monday that despite the team’s record, he’ll craft his lineup to win. An interesting quirk is that, at least this season, the Giants’ best odds of winning might be using Posey at first base, and Nick Hundley behind the plate, especially when San Francisco is facing left-handed pitchers.
Though Hundley isn’t nearly the defensive stalwart Posey is behind the plate, he’s hitting .310 against left-handed pitching and half of his extra base hits have come against southpaws, even though only one-third of his at-bats have come against lefties.
Furthermore, because the Giants’ primary corner infield options at this point in the year, Brandon Belt (when healthy), Ryder Jones, and Pablo Sandoval are all left-handed hitters, it makes sense for Bochy to juggle the lineup and play a heavy right-handed outfit against lefties.
On Tuesday night, Bochy was asked if Hundley’s recent play (he’s 5-for-his-last-12) coupled with Belt’s injury would force Bochy’s hand to play Hundley more frequently, and shift Posey to first base.
“He’s (Posey) still going to get his work behind the plate,” Bochy responded. “Jones is going to get a lot of playing time. I’d like to get Pablo a lot of playing time. It’s kind of tough right now to get them all in there. Nick is doing a great job so I’ll meet with some guys once I’m done here to get this lineup done for tomorrow but I’ll mix it up.”
What Bochy means by “mix it up,” of course, is that he’ll play matchups. Against right-handed pitchers, Jones will play first, Sandoval third and Posey will catch. Against lefties, though, well that’s a different story.
“Because Nick is, he’s catching well, he’s swinging the bat well and we’ve got the young guy Jones that needs to play and Pablo, he got a big hit tonight,” Bochy said. “That’s huge, what he did. This is workable, it is.”
Bochy knows that the Giants’ situation is workable, because at least temporarily, he can turn the entire team into a gigantic platoon. The Giants can audition players like Jones and Sandoval, while keeping them in favorable situations. While some –including myself– think it may be best to expose said players to more adversity, if the Giants are intent on winning more games, it will likely require Posey to concede that catching against left-handed pitchers isn’t automatically increasing the Giants’ odds of winning games.
Even though the Giants remain in the NL West cellar, they have a manager and a franchise cornerstone who will refuse to let the final 47 games of the season go to waste. Whether playing to win in the short-term will help the team over the long haul remains to be seen, but you have to admire the intensity and competitiveness of Bochy and Posey.
With less than two months remaining, the Giants know there are long-term benefits to using Posey at first base. While they’ll reap those, in the short-term, they have a chance to keep the 30-year-old happy, and that’s by winning more games.