Buster Posey is the NL MVP

Buster Posey’s trophy shelf is already loaded up, and yet he’s only played one full-length big league season. In addition to two World Series titles, the 2012 Willie Mac Award, the 2012 National League batting title, a 2012 Silver Slugger, the 2012 Hank Aaron award, the 2012 Comeback Player award, and the 2010 Rookie of the Year award, Posey must find room for the shimmering National League Most Valuable Player trophy. Fans across the country may ponder why Posey? Ryan Braun in Milwaukee, Andrew McCutchen in Pittsburgh, and Joey Votto in Cincinnati are extraordinary players.  By the numbers Braun and McCutchen had stellar years. But they are not catchers. The numbers aside, there has not been an offensively prolific catcher this good since Mike Piazza twenty years ago. And Posey is still a nascent catcher, with only half a season or more under his belt before starting the 2012 regular season. Furthermore he had to overcome a devastating injury in 2011 that took him out for nearly the complete regular season. His rehabilitation lasted a year. The nature of the injury caused many to show plausible concern that the young and talented catcher may not live up to his full potential given the abuses taken by the position. They were wrong. First, Buster Posey is the MVP to his team. He worked hard to come back better, faster, stronger, and smarter.  And over the course of the season Posey got better and better. He lost nothing during his year-long injury. Without Posey in the lineup the Giants would be at more of a disadvantage than if they lost any other player on the roster. The 2011 season proves this theory. The Giants did not make the playoffs in 2011. They struggled offensively, and had little or no stability behind the plate without Posey. They were forced to platoon at catcher during 2011. Though they had Carlos Beltran and Pablo Sandoval, neither player could not put the team on their shoulders and slug their way into the postseason. In 2012 the Giants lost their best hitters during the season. All Star MVP, Melky Cabrera’s suspension eliminated him from the lineup for the rest of the season in mid-August. And Sandoval spent nearly 6 weeks on the disabled list during the regular season. But the Giants did not miss a beat.  Instead Posey stepped up his performance, placing the team on his shoulders and won games. Let’s look at Buster Posey’s 2012 season by the month. Month              AVG                OBP                SLG                 OPS                H                     RBI April                 .353                 .413                 .603                 1.016               24                    9 May                 .253                 .311                 .368                 .679                 24                    18 June                .299                 .379                 .483                 .862                 26                    13 July                 .381                 .448                 .595                 1.043               32                    21 August             .371                 .482                 .652                 1.134               33                    21 September      .371                 .426                 .598                 1.024               36                    18 Post Season  Series              AVG                OBP                SLG                 OPS                H                     RBI NLDS              .211                 .318                 .526                 .844                 4                      5 NLCS              .154                 .318                 .526                 .844                 4                      1 WS                  .267                 .313                 .467                 .780                 4                      3 Totals             .336                 .408                 .549                 .957                 178                  103 Posey ranks first in the National League in WAR, the latest stat trend. Though much debate fills the airwaves regarding the relevancy of the WAR stat, you can’t argue that if a player gives you a better chance to win over an average guy, then you should go with him. Buster Posey didn’t pile up as many homers (24 HR) as Ryan Braun (41 HR) this year. Posey doesn’t swing for the fences, and he plays in the massive AT&T Park. Posey puts the ball into play for extra-base hits on a consistent basis. Look at his hits for each month and you’ll see consistency and improvement almost like it was planned out. Posey is the player you want at the plate in critical situations, with runners in scoring position, or with two outs late in the game. He’s clutch. He’s so clutch that despite suffering from having painful shingles in April, he still performed well. During the worst of the ten-day period with the debilitating rash, Posey went 14-for-36. He took only one day off during his bout with shingles. He’s so clutch that right when the team got the wind knocked out of them with the Melky Cabrera suspension, Posey raked through August, never hitting below .324. When the team needed someone to pick them up, he did. Manager Bruce Bochy occasionally played Posey at first base this season in order to give him and his rehabbing broken leg rest from the toils of playing catcher. Some thought that might negatively influence the young star’s rhythm at the plate. That was not the case. Posey hit .378 with .633 SLG while playing first base. When starting behind the dish he hit .329 with a .540 SLG. Bochy couldn’t lose no matter where he put Posey on defense. That makes for a valuable player to any manager. Another factor that likely contributed to his MVP year is that he is a catcher. The only other catcher somewhat close to Posey in offensive production was the Cardinals’ Yadier Molina, who hit .315 on the year, with only 76 RBIs; 27 less than Posey. Other than Molina the next most productive catcher was the ageing Carlos Ruiz in Philadelphia, who hit .325 for the regular season. In fact, Posey outperformed both Jonny Bench and Mike Piazza in their respective first full seasons, with at least 148 games started or more. Let’s compare their numbers. Johnny Bench   1968: 154 Starts   .275 AVG / .311 OBP / .433 SLG / .743 OPS     with 155 hits and 82 RBIs Mike Piazza       1993:  149 Starts   .318 AVG / .370 OBP / .561 SLG / .932 OPS    with 174 hits and 112 RBIs Buster Posey     2012: 148 Starts   .336 AVG / .408 OBP / .549 SLG / .957 OPS    with 178 hits and 103 RBIs The Giants organization drafted what they think might be the best catcher of the franchise, and maybe even a player who has a shot at becoming one of the best catchers in MLB history.  He now joins only ten other catchers in MLB history who have won the MVP award. Buster Posey far exceeded everyone’s expectations this season, maybe even his own. He caught Matt Cain’s perfect game on June 13: Cain said he didn’t shake off a single sign from Posey. He won the Giants’ organization award for outstanding player, the Willie Mac Award: Namesake, Willie McCovey said that never before had he been so sure about the award’s recipient until this year. He won the National League batting title: He passed Andrew McCutchen late in the season for top honors. He won a second World Series in his very new three-year career. Professional sports are about one thing only: championships. Since Buster Posey has become the full-time catcher in San Francisco, the team has won two division titles, two National League pennants and two World Series titles. Not bad for his first three years.     The post Buster Posey is the NL MVP appeared first on Bay Area Sports Nut.