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10 Degrees: Buster Posey headlines baseball's best seasons no one is noticing - Yahoo Sports
1. Buster Posey to be two-thirds of the way to one of the greatest seasons ever from a catcher with barely a mention of just how great it's been is almost as incredible as what he has done.
First consider Posey's offensive line: .327/.385/.495. In history, only 11 other catchers who played 75 percent of their games behind the plate put up such a line. Posey was the last to do it in his 2012 MVP season. Mauer did it twice, as did Bubbles Hargrave and Hall of Famers Gabby Hartnett, Bill Dickey and Mickey Cochrane. Only Mike Piazza reached the thresholds three times.
While his bat is as good as ever, Posey's ability to stifle runners is newfound and damn near unfair. In 2012, runners stole a major league-high 87 bases off him and were caught 30.4 percent of the time. This season, in 44 attempts, Posey has thrown out 20 runners – a big league-best 45.5 percent caught stealing. Combine that with his annually tremendous framing skills – Posey has saved an estimated 16 runs turning balls into strikes at a higher rate than all but three other regular catchers, according to statcorner.com – and not only is he the top offensive catcher in baseball, one could argue he's the preeminent on defense, too.
10. Buster Posey and his San Francisco Giants, the quietest band of marauders in the game. Between hitting and fielding, no team matches the Giants this season, something of a surprise considering their championships came on the backs of superior pitching.
These Giants are deep and strong and seem to do just about everything right, and nobody exemplifies that better than Posey. Always a conscientious hitter, his evolution this year into someone who knows exactly what he wants is evident. Posey swings and misses on just 5.6 percent of pitches, one of the lowest rates in baseball, and has taken pains to find the proper pitch more than ever this year.
Posey is now offering at 71.4 percent of pitches in the strike zone, far higher than any of his past seasons, and making contact with a career-best 92.6 percent of them. The result: 41 walks and 39 strikeouts. Of the 154 players who qualify for the batting title, only Posey, Michael Brantley and Andrelton Simmons have more walks than strikeouts.
This is a player at the apex of his game, and perhaps he gets taken for granted because he is so unassuming, so matter of fact, so damn good at what he does. Not that Posey minds. Let Harper soak in that adulation. He deserves every bit of it. Only 20 players have put up the slash line Harper is this season, and the last 13 such seasons came from 1993-2008, the highest run-scoring environment in more than four decades.
Posey will swing his stick and frame his pitches and throw out batters and do his best to run and live his baseball life where he's most comfortable: under the radar and always primed to grab one more ring.
1. Buster Posey to be two-thirds of the way to one of the greatest seasons ever from a catcher with barely a mention of just how great it's been is almost as incredible as what he has done.
First consider Posey's offensive line: .327/.385/.495. In history, only 11 other catchers who played 75 percent of their games behind the plate put up such a line. Posey was the last to do it in his 2012 MVP season. Mauer did it twice, as did Bubbles Hargrave and Hall of Famers Gabby Hartnett, Bill Dickey and Mickey Cochrane. Only Mike Piazza reached the thresholds three times.
While his bat is as good as ever, Posey's ability to stifle runners is newfound and damn near unfair. In 2012, runners stole a major league-high 87 bases off him and were caught 30.4 percent of the time. This season, in 44 attempts, Posey has thrown out 20 runners – a big league-best 45.5 percent caught stealing. Combine that with his annually tremendous framing skills – Posey has saved an estimated 16 runs turning balls into strikes at a higher rate than all but three other regular catchers, according to statcorner.com – and not only is he the top offensive catcher in baseball, one could argue he's the preeminent on defense, too.
10. Buster Posey and his San Francisco Giants, the quietest band of marauders in the game. Between hitting and fielding, no team matches the Giants this season, something of a surprise considering their championships came on the backs of superior pitching.
These Giants are deep and strong and seem to do just about everything right, and nobody exemplifies that better than Posey. Always a conscientious hitter, his evolution this year into someone who knows exactly what he wants is evident. Posey swings and misses on just 5.6 percent of pitches, one of the lowest rates in baseball, and has taken pains to find the proper pitch more than ever this year.
Posey is now offering at 71.4 percent of pitches in the strike zone, far higher than any of his past seasons, and making contact with a career-best 92.6 percent of them. The result: 41 walks and 39 strikeouts. Of the 154 players who qualify for the batting title, only Posey, Michael Brantley and Andrelton Simmons have more walks than strikeouts.
This is a player at the apex of his game, and perhaps he gets taken for granted because he is so unassuming, so matter of fact, so damn good at what he does. Not that Posey minds. Let Harper soak in that adulation. He deserves every bit of it. Only 20 players have put up the slash line Harper is this season, and the last 13 such seasons came from 1993-2008, the highest run-scoring environment in more than four decades.
Posey will swing his stick and frame his pitches and throw out batters and do his best to run and live his baseball life where he's most comfortable: under the radar and always primed to grab one more ring.
