Mark Emmons - MercuryNews
The raw numbers and eyewitness accounts of Buster Posey's baseball exploits stretch the bounds of common sense.
As in, tall tales.
At Florida State, Posey led the nation in almost every offensive category. In one game, he played all nine positions and hit a grand slam. A natural shortstop, he took up catching as a college sophomore and then, as a junior, threw out 41 percent of would-be base-stealers. As a pitcher, he saved six games, never allowing an earned run.
When four teams passed on Posey before the Giants picked him in the June draft, Florida State Coach Mike Martin said: Yeah, well a couple of NBA teams didn't take Michael Jordan, either.
"All I can tell ya is Buster Posey is a Jason Varitek," added Martin, pausing for effect, "... who can run."
Rice Coach Wayne Graham said Posey "might be the best draft pick ever."
Adding to the too-good-to-be-true story is Posey's polite demeanor, his 3.8 grade-point average, how he hasn't spent any of his $6.2 million bonus and will marry his high school sweetheart in January.
Do we need to add that he steadfastly refuses to brag?
"I'm the wrong person to talk about myself," said Posey, 21, who joined the San Jose Giants for the California League playoffs. "It's just the way I was raised. I'm from a small town and my mom and dad brought me up to, as corny as it sounds, let your actions speak for themselves."
His actions are shouting. Just a few weeks into his pro career, he has already been promoted twice. But Posey also seemed unburdened by the high expectations for him among Giants fans weary of a farm system that hasn't produced an All-Star position player since Matt Williams. "I guess I don't really know much about that," he said. "I just feel like whatever it is I'm going to do, I will do it as hard and as well as I possibly can." "Buster" might be the perfect baseball name, but it had to grow on Gerald Dempsey Posey III. "I've been called Buster since I was born," Posey said. "Of course as a kid, you get picked on a lot for a name like that. But I definitely like it now. It's who I am." Posey also makes clear, though, that while he loves baseball, "It doesn't define who I am." He grew up in the southern Georgia community of Leesburg, which has a population less than 3,000. He graduated fourth in his high school class before heading to Florida State and starred immediately at shortstop. After his first season, Martin's son — a Seminoles assistant — broached the idea of moving Posey to catcher to fill a need. "I just looked at him and said, 'Sure, let's take our All-American shortstop and slap catcher's gear on him,' " Martin recalled. "I thought he'd look like a Little Leaguer out there. But dad-gum, after five pitches he looked like he had been there his whole life." This season, Posey's mind-bending statistics included a .463 batting average, 26 home runs and 93 RBIs in 68 games as he swept every major player of the year award. It's no wonder the Giants were thrilled he was on the board when they selected. But on Aug. 15, as the midnight signing deadline approached, the team still hadn't reached a deal with Posey. "It was like 11:58, I think," Posey said of when an agreement finally was struck that gave him the largest signing bonus in Giants history. Life has been moving fast ever since. This boy of the South has hopscotched around the West from Scottsdale in the Arizona Rookie League to Salem-Keizer (Ore.) in the Northwest League and then San Jose. One reason for bringing him here was so he could work with Manager Steve Decker, a former major league catcher who is credited with helping develop Pablo Sandoval, who started the season in San Jose before rocketing up to San Francisco. While Decker said "we'll help him get better," Posey showed in his debut Saturday that he might not need that much assistance. He almost homered on the first pitch thrown to him, went 1 for 3 with an RBI single, threw out a baserunner and impressed the Giants brass with the way he caught touted right-hander Tim Alderson. It's why General Manager Brian Sabean said the next day: "He was as advertised. He was a scout's dream." Although Conor Gillaspie, the 37th overall pick in June, was promoted to San Francisco last weekend, Posey won't be joining him. (He hasn't even seen AT&T Park.) Instead, he'll head to the Arizona Instructional League and then the Hawaii Winter Baseball league for further grooming. Posey said he has been given no indication that he'll do anything other than catch. But John Barr, who oversees the Giants scouting department, said the organization doesn't want to put any limitations on his versatility. Well, except pitch. But Martin, who has witnessed so many of Posey's feats, has learned never to doubt his ability. "It would be a bold statement for me to say Buster could be a big league pitcher," Martin said. "But not a stretch of the truth."
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