Feature Photo: Buster Posey (Photo by Perfect Game)
Buster Posey’s given name is Gerald Dempsey Posey III, with “Buster” being the nickname he inherited from his father. He was always known as Buster while playing for Lee County High School (GA) and for the East Cobb Astros during the summer and fall seasons.
Posey was a firmly built 6-foot-1, 180-pound athlete who matured fairly early in high school. He excelled at both shortstop and on the pitcher’s mound, and was one of those players about whom there was constant debate what his future position was going to be. In Perfect Game circles he was thought about as a pitcher first, shortstop second. He was chosen to play in the 2004 Aflac All-American Game primarily to pitch.
On the mound, Posey had an easy delivery with a three-quarters arm slot and very good extension out front through release. He topped out at 93 mph during the fall of his junior year playing for the Astros at the WWBA World Championships, and he was consistently in the low 90s at every event he played in. With his athleticism and easy delivery, Posey threw just as hard out of the stretch as he did from the windup and filled up the strike zone. He threw both a mid-70s curveball and low-80s slider and also had a workable changeup for a high school pitcher. Despite his modest height for a pitcher, he projected as a four-pitch starter with plus command potential.
Buster Posey (Photo by Perfect Game)
At that point, Posey’s ceiling as an infielder didn’t seem nearly as high. Although there are no sixty times for him in the PG database, he wasn’t a strong runner and his defensive actions at shortstop, while athletic and clean, weren’t the kind that invoked ideas of a big league shortstop in scouts. He swung the bat well and had some power, but was in that mid-range between (a) a shortstop without shortstop speed and quickness; and (b) and a third baseman without a third baseman’s physicality and power potential.
One thing that Posey could always do – not surprisingly – was perform. He hit .544-7-46 as a high school junior and went 10-1 with a 1.53 ERA on the mound, then topped that as a senior by hitting .460-14-40 over 108 AB’s, and posting a 12-0 record with a 1.06 ERA with 108 strikeouts. Posey’s Lee County team lost in the 2005 Georgia State 4A Championships, however, to a Henry County team that was lead by his East Cobb Astros teammate Jason Heyward. He was named the 2005 Gatorade Player of the Year in Georgia.
Posey also performed at the same level in the classroom, graduating fourth in his class of over 300 seniors. Between his academics, his need to define a future position and his strong commitment to Florida State, there wasn’t any sense at all among scouts that Posey was signable, although the Los Angeles Angels made him a token 50th-round pick in the 2005 MLB Draft. Perfect Game had him ranked 32nd in the high school class at draft time, indicative of a second round-type talent.
Florida State defined his position as shortstop as a freshman, and he played 65 games for the Seminoles in the infield while not taking the mound once. Posey hit .346-4-48 with 38 walks in his college debut season.
That changed dramatically before Posey’s sophomore season, as the Florida State coaching staff saw – between Posey’s type of athleticism and his leadership skills – a potential high-level catcher, and they had him make the conversion to behind the plate prior to the season. Posey mastered the defensive aspect of catching almost immediately, and continued to improve at the plate at the same time. He hit .382-3-65 while cutting his strikeouts from 45 as a freshman down to 27 in the exact same number of at-bats.
Posey’s junior year was his breakout year, as he hit .463-26-93 with 57 walks. After throwing in one game as a sophomore, Posey also started making more frequent appearances on the mound, pitching in nine games and notching six saves while posting a 1.17 ERA. Posey also famously played all nine positions in a late season mid-week game against Savannah State, and hit a grand slam in the game as well. He swept all of college baseball’s major awards, including the Golden Spikes Award as the top amateur player in the country, and the Johnny Bench Award as college baseball’s top catcher.
The Tampa Bay Rays had the first overall pick in the 2008 MLB Draft and Posey was definitely talked about as being in the Rays mix for that pick. And it was a strong draft class, with all of the first 21 picks, and 27 of the top 30, having played in the major leagues. The eventual first five picks, Tim Beckham, Pedro Alvarez, Eric Hosmer, Brian Matusz and Posey, stood out from the pack and were undoubtedly all considered by Tampa Bay, although both Alvarez and Hosmer were Scott Boras clients who were thought to be difficult signings.
The “What If” game has frequently been played with the Rays decision to draft the high ceiling but very young middle infielder in Beckham over the accomplished and nearly big league-ready Posey. Take Posey away from the three-time World Series champion San Francisco Giants, and add him to all those 90+ win Tampa Bay teams, you really do wonder how many World Series titles the Rays might have won by now.
Even today Posey doesn’t seem to get quite the respect he deserves. I was at a park late last summer killing time with a veteran scout and friend, and we were talking about the best players in baseball. I threw out a comment about Posey being one of the top 10 position players in the big leagues. My friend looked at me with a “Really?!?!” look on his face, so I told him, “Don’t argue about it now, when you go home tonight, look up all the numbers and remember the position he plays, and that he’s the best player on a team that has won three World Series.”
When I saw him the next day, he simply said, “I think you were right about Posey.”
