Buster Posey
1093
In 1371 games over 12 seasons, Posey posted a .302 batting average (1500-for-4970) with 663 runs, 293 doubles, 158 home runs, 729 RBI, 540 walks, .372 on-base percentage, and .460 slugging percentage. Defensively, he recorded a .995 fielding percentage in 1093 games played as a catcher and a .995 fielding percentage in 229 games played at first base. In 58 postseason games, he hit .252 (57-for-226) with 18 runs, 6 doubles, 5 home runs, 25 RBI and 23 walks.
1942
Posey's teammate Melky Cabrera batted .346 in 2012, but MLB declared him ineligible for the batting title after receiving a 50-game suspension for raised testosterone levels. As a result, Posey led both leagues in batting in 2012 with an average of .336, becoming the first catcher to lead the NL in hitting since Ernie Lombardi of the Boston Braves in 1942. He also became only the second San Francisco Giant to win the batting title, following Barry Bonds in 2002 and 2004. Posey's .433 batting average against left-handed pitching (71 for 164) led all batters in the major leagues in 2012.
July 02, 1963
From May 8–10, Posey hit home runs in three consecutive games against the New York Mets at Citi Field. On May 12, Posey hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 17th inning against the Cincinnati Reds after catching all 17 innings. The home run set a new Giants franchise record for latest walk-off home run, surpassing the 16th-inning home run hit by Willie Mays on July 2, 1963.
March 27, 1987
Gerald Dempsey "Buster" Posey III (born March 27, 1987) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He spent his entire twelve-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the San Francisco Giants, from 2009 until his retirement at the conclusion of the 2021 season. In September 2022, Posey joined the Giants' ownership group.
March 27, 1987
The oldest of four children, Posey was born to Demp and Tracy Posey on March 27, 1987, in Leesburg, Georgia. He and his family grew up Methodist Christian. Posey has an uncle who is a Methodist minister and an aunt who is a camp minister for Duke University. His nickname, "Buster", came from his father's childhood nickname. Posey grew up a fan of the Atlanta Braves. He also played football, soccer, and basketball growing up, but baseball was his main sport.
1992
Posey caught Santiago Casilla's immaculate inning save in May 2015 against the Cincinnati Reds, the first time that the Giants had struck out all three opposing batters in an inning on nine pitches since Trevor Wilson accomplished the feat in 1992.
1995
In Game 5 of the NLDS against the Reds on October 11, Posey hit a grand slam off of Reds starter Mat Latos to give the Giants a 6–0 lead and subsequently won the game. The Giants become the second NL team to win a Division Series after being down two games to none and first since the LDS became a permanent standard in the playoffs in 1995. Posey became just the third catcher in MLB history to hit a grand slam in the playoffs, along with Berra and Eddie Pérez. He also completed a strikeout-throw out double play at third base in the sixth inning to help preserve the victory. He batted .154 with four hits and one RBI in the NLCS as the Giants defeated the Cardinals in seven games. He hit a two-run home run against Max Scherzer in Game 4 of the World Series as the Giants swept the Detroit Tigers, giving Posey his second World Series championship.
2006
During the college offseason, Posey started at shortstop for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in 2006 when they won the Cape Cod Baseball League championship, and started at catcher in 2007 when they won another championship. He was named a league all-star in both seasons.
2008
In 2008, as a junior, he hit .463 with 26 home runs and 93 RBI, won the ACC Baseball Player of the Year, Johnny Bench Award, and garnered the Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year award. On May 12, he hit a grand slam and played all nine fielding positions in a 10–0 victory over Savannah State University; as a pitcher that day, he struck out both batters he faced. Posey was awarded the Dick Howser Trophy and the Golden Spikes Award at the end of the year.
2008
Posey was born in Leesburg, Georgia. He played four sports in high school; in baseball, he excelled at hitting and pitching. He attended Florida State University, where he began playing the catcher and first base positions. He won the Golden Spikes Award and the Brooks Wallace Award in 2008. He was selected by the Giants with the fifth overall pick in the first round of the 2008 MLB draft. Posey made his MLB debut on September 11, 2009. He and Madison Bumgarner both made their Major League debuts in 2009 and established a reputation as one of the best batteries in recent MLB history. With the presence of then full-time catcher Bengie Molina, Posey played first base when originally called up to the majors, but became the Giants' regular catcher in June 2010 when Molina was traded to the Texas Rangers.
2009
Although he was drafted in the 50th round of the 2005 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, he chose to enroll in college instead of signing a professional baseball contract. Posey was considered by Baseball America to be the best catcher available in the 2008 MLB draft. He was drafted by the San Francisco Giants with the fifth overall pick. On August 16, the Giants signed Posey shortly before the signing deadline for draftees and gave him a $6.2 million signing bonus, the largest up-front bonus in Giants history. Entering the 2009 season, Baseball America ranked him the number two prospect in the Giants' organization (behind Madison Bumgarner). He was invited to the Giants' spring training in 2009. Following spring training, Posey was assigned to the Giants' Class A Advanced affiliate, the San Jose Giants of the California League. In 80 games with San Jose, he batted .326 with 63 runs, 95 hits, 23 doubles, 13 home runs, and 58 RBI.
2009
Because of an injury to Giants starting catcher Bengie Molina, Posey was called up to MLB for the first time on September 2, 2009. On September 11, 2009, Posey made his MLB debut, striking out in his first at bat against Hiroki Kuroda of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Posey got his first major league hit on September 19 against Jeff Weaver of the Dodgers. In 17 at-bats with the Giants in 2009, Posey had two hits.
January 10, 2009
Posey married his high school sweetheart, Kristen, on January 10, 2009. They had twins (a son and a daughter) in 2011. They adopted twin girls in 2020. Posey and his family lived in the East Bay during his career. After announcing his retirement, Posey and his wife sold their East Bay home and moved back to their home state of Georgia to be closer to their relatives. Posey is a Christian and served as the baseball chapel representative for the Giants. Posey's younger sister, Samantha, played softball for Valdosta State University.
2010
Eligible for salary arbitration for the first time, Posey signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Giants prior to the 2013 spring training season. On March 29, Posey agreed to an eight-year contract extension worth $167 million, said by the Giants to be the most lucrative in franchise history. The contract wiped out three arbitration years and five years of free agency for Posey, locking in his services through the 2021 season with a club option for 2022. The agreement was the second largest in major league history for a catcher, exceeded only by that of Joe Mauer in 2010 with the Minnesota Twins.
May 29, 2010
Posey was called up to the major leagues on May 29, 2010, and started at first base against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Posey drove in the first runs of his major league career, going three for four with three RBI. He appeared primarily at first base through the end of June. Posey hit his first career home run against Aaron Harang of the Cincinnati Reds on June 9. Following Molina's trade to the Texas Rangers on June 30, Posey became the starting catcher for the Giants.
2011
As a rookie, he finished with a .305 batting average, 18 home runs, and 67 runs batted in. He caught every inning of the playoffs as the Giants won the 2010 World Series. He was named the NL Rookie of the Year. In 2011, after he was severely injured in a collision with the Florida Marlins' Scott Cousins at home plate, Posey missed most of the year. The collision is widely seen as pushing Major League Baseball to adopt rule 7.13 in regards to blocking the plate prior to the 2014 season, informally known as the "Buster Posey Rule."
April 06, 2011
Posey set season highs with three hits and four RBI on April 6, 2011, including a two-run home run against Tim Stauffer in an 8–4 victory over the Padres.
2012
Posey returned from his injury in 2012 and posted perhaps one of the greatest individual comeback season in sports history. He caught Matt Cain's perfect game, batted .336 to win the 2012 NL batting title and was voted the 2012 NL MVP. He won his second World Series that year, as the Giants swept the Detroit Tigers in four games. In 2013, Posey signed a franchise-record eight-year, $167 million contract extension with the Giants. He won his third World Series the following year as the Giants defeated the Kansas City Royals. Posey is the second player in MLB history, after Pete Rose, to win the Rookie of the Year, a League MVP, and three World Series championships. Posey played in four no-hitters in his career, catching three of them. In 2016, he won a Gold Glove Award. In 2019, the Johnny Bench Award was renamed the Buster Posey Award, which honors college baseball's top NCAA Division I catcher.
2012
Posey was selected by fan voting to start at catcher in the 2016 MLB All Star Game, Posey's fourth career MLB All-Star Game, the most all-time by a Giants catcher in franchise history. He was the catcher for battery mate Johnny Cueto, the second battery mate he started and caught for in the Midsummer Classic after teammate Matt Cain in 2012.
June 13, 2012
Posey started at catcher during Matt Cain's perfect game on June 13, 2012, the 22nd in major league history. He stated afterwards that the game had him feeling "as nervous as I've ever been on a baseball field." He played in the 2012 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, his first, on July 10, going 0–2 with a walk and a run scored. After batting .289 with 10 home runs and 43 RBI in 77 games before the All-Star break, Posey batted .385 with 14 home runs and 60 RBI in the final 71 games of the season. On July 17, he had three hits and five RBI in a 9–0 victory over the Braves. Four days later, he had four hits and three RBI, including a two-run home run against Cole Hamels in a 10-inning, 6–5 victory over the Phillies. Two days later, he had three hits and four RBI, including a three-run home run against Clayton Richard in a 7–1 victory over the Padres. He hit a game-winning three-run home run against Lance Lynn on August 7 in a 4–2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. On September 17, he had three hits, including a game-winning two-run home run against Wade Miley in a 3–2 victory over the Diamondbacks. In 148 games, Posey had 78 runs scored, 178 hits (tied for eighth in the NL with David Wright), 39 doubles (tied for eighth with Yonder Alonso), 24 home runs, and 103 RBI (sixth).
2013
Posey's offense regressed in 2013 following his 2012 MVP season, especially in the second half of the season where he hit just 3 home runs. However, he still finished with a solid .294 batting average, 15 home runs and 72 runs batted in.
July 01, 2013
On July 1, 2013, Posey was named National League Player of the Week for the week of June 23 – 29. It was the second time Posey earned the award during his career, and the first since 2010. In six games Posey hit .500, to raise his average from .307 to .322, had an on-base percentage of .560, a slugging percentage of 1.182, stroked four home runs, and drove in six.
July 13, 2013
On July 13, 2013, Posey caught Tim Lincecum's first no-hitter against the San Diego Padres. The no-hitter also marks the 15th ever in Giants history as well as the second performed in an away ballpark.
July 16, 2013
On July 16, 2013, Posey played in his second straight All-Star Game, striking out in his only at-bat.
June 25, 2014
On June 25, 2014, in a 4–0 win over the San Diego Padres and playing first base, Posey caught the final out of Tim Lincecum's second career no-hitter.
July 13, 2014
On July 13, 2014, Posey and pitcher Madison Bumgarner hit grand slams against the Arizona Diamondbacks. It marked the first time in Major League Baseball history that a catcher and a pitcher hit grand slams in the same game.
August 29, 2014
On August 29, 2014, in a 13–2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers at Oracle Park (then known as AT&T Park), Posey went 5-for-5 in 6 innings, and became the only catcher in Giants franchise history to have two career five-hit games.
June 09, 2015
On June 9, 2015, Posey caught rookie Chris Heston's no-hitter against the New York Mets at Citi Field, including the final out, a strikeout. It marks the seventeenth no-hitter in Giants franchise history. This was the third no-hitter during which Posey played catcher and the fourth overall, as he started at first base in Tim Lincecum's second career no-hitter. This puts him one behind the record for no-hitters caught, held by the Philadelphia Phillies' Carlos Ruiz and the Boston Red Sox' Jason Varitek.
June 19, 2015
On June 19, 2015, in a 9–5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, Posey hit a grand slam and stole a base, becoming the first Giants catcher in 112 years since Roger Bresnahan to accomplish the feat. Four days later, in a 6–0 win over the San Diego Padres at Oracle Park, Posey hit another grand slam. On July 5, 2015, Posey was selected to his third career All-Star Game and was number one in voting for NL catchers. On September 6, 2015, at Coors Field, in a 7–4 win over the Colorado Rockies, Posey hit his 100th career home run.
November 11, 2015
On November 11, 2015, Posey was named winner of the 2015 Wilson Defensive Player of the Year award, given to the best defensive catcher in MLB. The following day, Posey was named winner of the 2015 National League Silver Slugger award at catcher. Posey finished 2015 with a .318 batting average, 19 home runs, and 95 RBIs.
2019
In 2019, he batted .257/.320/.368 with 43 runs, 7 home runs, and 38 RBIs in 405 at bats. His .302 career batting average was 8th-best among active major league players.
2021
Posey became the longest-tenured member of the Giants when he returned. In 2021, on his first swing since the 2019 season, Posey hit a solo home run off Marco Gonzales. Posey became the first player in franchise history to catch 1,000 games for the Giants. He was an NL All Star; it was his 7th time as an All Star.
November 04, 2021
Posey announced his retirement from baseball on November 4, 2021, making him just the fifth player in the San Francisco era to spend his entire career with the Giants (minimum of 10 seasons), joining Jim Davenport (1958–1970), Scott Garrelts (1982–1991), Robby Thompson (1986–1996) and former battery mate Matt Cain (2005–2017).
September 21, 2022
On September 21, 2022, the Giants announced that Posey had joined the 30-member ownership group of the Giants and will serve on its board of directors.
