- An old baseball adage is that the hardest jump a player has to make in the minor leagues is the one from high Class A to Double-A. So what about when a player jumps straight from high Class to Triple-A? That hasn’t fazed Buster Posey, the fifth overall pick in last year’s draft who’s been tearing up the Pacific Coast League in August and looks poised to take over as the Giants’ big league catcher next season.
- "He’s got the whole package," Fresno manager Dan Rohn said. "He’s pretty disciplined at the plate. If he gets fooled once, he makes the adjustments. He’s made some nice adjustments to offspeed pitches at this time. He’s definitely got power to all fields. He’s a kid that’s going to just get better and better."
- Posey has an outstanding feel for hitting for his age. His walk-to-strikeout ratio is nearly even for the season, as he’s walked 62 times while fanning 63 times through 110 games between his two stops. With 18 home runs so far, could top the 20 home run mark for the season, a higher total than he should probably be expected to hit in the majors. Still, his feel for the strike zone will aid his power at the next level, where he won’t have the most raw power but should be able to get into favorable counts and punish mistakes.
- ... it’s not surprising that he’s faced a steep learning curve defensively since arriving in pro ball. The Giants initially sent him to Hawaii Winter Baseball last year, but he allowed eight passed balls in 10 games and went back to the team’s instructional league to work on his receiving. He allowed 10 more passed balls at San Jose and four in 28 games at Fresno. On the other hand, Posey has thrown out seven of 18 basestealers (38.9 percent) in Triple-A, and the team is confident in his ability to lead a pitching staff.
- "He doesn’t get rattled that much," Rohn said. "He’s a pretty even-keeled kid. His knowledge of the game and his ability to remember hitters and pitches and situations are pretty phenomenal at this point."
- A scout said recently that Posey looked big league ready right now,
This is great news, all around. He sounds ready to start for us next season. Baggarly had intimated that the Giants might not go with Posey as the starter in 2010, based on Sabean's recent comments about Posey not being called up in September and being allowed to join Team USA for the World Cup, but since he also works for Baseball America, maybe the news from the team has changed (I asked about this in the blog).
I hope so, Posey sounds ready to hit big time for us and won't he look great batting 3rd or 5th for us while Sandoval bats 4th? Maybe it's Schierholtz, Sandoval, Posey 3/4/5, Rowand and Ishikawa/Garko 6 and 7, Freddy Sanchez 2nd (if healthy...), then maybe Lewis or Velez in LF leading off, which leaves Renteria batting 8th.
funny - when you did the AFL I started to reply about Posey, but didn't. I think he's ready enough that he wouldn't be a detriment, and, IMHO what we saw out of Molina before this season was his peak. Probably next year will not look any better than his career averages. Posey at worst wouldn't be much of a downgrade, and blocking him when he's already 23 would be foolish. Catchers have short lifespans.
ReplyDeleteThe look of that lineup looks pretty good to me - and that's with no changes save Posey. Damn cool.
Sabean will now sign Pudge Rodriguez to a 5-year, $50 million deal and trade Posey for Andruw Jones.
Buster has declined his place on Team USA:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mercurynews.com/giantsheadlines/ci_13219968
Looks like he's focusing on the AFL, which bodes well for his push to get on the ML roster.
I still think a one- or two- year deal for a proven clean-up LF makes sense for next year. I wouldn't mind an overpaid one, if it meant avoiding another long-term deal. Having Ordonez or Dye for 12-15mil next year would give the lineup some structure and allow for increased player development:
1) For the ML players. With some production in the middle of the lineup, Posey/Bowker/Guzman/Ishi/Garko/etc. won't feel nearly the burden to produce right away. It would increase everyone's plate discipline and quality at-bats, I believe.
2) With just Rowand committed long term, we still have the flexibility to develop, assess and possibly integrate Bowker, Guzman, Neal, and Kieschnick in with Schierholtz and Velez (Lewis can move on this off-season, or go AAAA) to the OF in the immediate and not-so-distant future.
you make a good point, JLHC - I don't think it's good for a rookie (including a Sandoval) to be placed in the position of being the cleanup hitter (in caps and italics and all that). Being "The Man" is a lot of pressure, not good for a young guy who's in the position of having to make a lot of adjustments.
ReplyDeleteI've always figured that was the reasoning behind signing Zito - have a veteran ace to take the pressure off the younger pitchers. Didn't quite work out that way, but the concept I can understand.
I don't know that the Zito pressure relief didn't work... in a deep, suffering Giant's fan way, I can see his demonization having helped young Tim and Matt focus on the quality of their pitches. Ironically, Zito's first two years here might be a best-case, learn by-bad-example scenario.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Okay, well, yes - I can see that cynically, but also, you're right - he, either way, was the one who was going to get the most attention. And still does get an awful lot - there's still some mileage on the griping factor.
ReplyDeleteWin-win! Cool answer.