Two Golden Spikes for Giants in Three Years

OK, Posey is not officially a Giants prospect yet, but his langauge certainly sounds like he will be. He was just announced as the latest Golden Spikes Award winner, winning the 2008 award. It is the award that Lincecum won in 2006, giving the Giants two Golden Spike winners in three years. With a very poor record thus far in 2008, they could be in place to possibly select the 2009 winner as well.

He won much like Lincecum, by having an outstanding performance that was head and shoulders above everyone else in what he does. In his case, it was offense: he led the NCAA in batting average by hitting .472, in on-base percentage with .572 and slugging with .908. He also led his team in saves, to boot. Despite only becoming a catcher a couple of years ago, his defense has been compared to Brad Ausmus, a catcher known for his defense and his very poor hitting (making his defense all that much better if the team is willing to tolerate that poor offense).

He is only the second catcher to win in the 31 year history of the Golden Spike Award, with Jason Varitek the sole previous catcher to win. Previous winners, besides Lincecum, include Alex Gordon, Jered Weaver, Rickie Weeks, Khalil Greene, Jason Jennings, Pat Burrell, J.D. Drew, Mark Kotsay, Robin Ventura, Jim Abbott, former Giants great Will "the Thrill" Clark, and Tim Wallach.

That list of past winners shows that pretty significant players have won the award before; however others not so significant as well, such as Kip Bouknight, Travis Lee, Mike Kelly, Mike Loynd. However, by my judgement, for the 20 years ending in 2006, the year Lincecum won, 11 were significant players, 17 had at least a good enough career that made him a recognizable name in baseball. So the odds would appear to favor that Posey should have at least a good career with some high points, and probably should be a significant player.

According to the article, he said that he is looking forward to beginning his professional career. "I feel like I'm starting at the same level as every other guy, every other 21-year-old that's going into their professional career." I also liked this quote: "My family taught me to keep a level head and realize that you're never bigger than the game. You just have a respect for the game and work as hard as you possibly can." Isn't that about the definition of a "gamer"?