Veteran Posey looks for resurgence in '20

SAN FRANCISCO -- It was a frustrating year for Buster Posey.

While he returned from an August 2018 hip surgery and started behind the plate for the Giants on Opening Day, Posey never quite looked like himself in 2019. The 32-year-old veteran quietly split catching duties with backup Stephen Vogt, batted as low as sixth in the starting lineup for the first time since his rookie campaign in 2010, and in September, Posey laid down his first career sacrifice bunt in 5,116 Major League plate appearances.

“If you look at my numbers, you can tell I’m not having the greatest year,” Posey said after deciding to bunt. “So my confidence is not at an all-time high.”

What went right?

Posey’s defense remained elite. He recorded 14 Defensive Runs Saved, according to FanGraphs, and threw out 32 percent of potential base stealers -- above the league average of 26 percent. When SABR released its most recent Defensive Index rankings in August, Posey (4.8) trailed only J.T. Realmuto (9.4) and Austin Hedges (9.2) among National League catchers. This metric accounts for approximately 25 percent of the annual Gold Glove Award selection process. Posey also received consistent praise from former manager Bruce Bochy for his work with the Giants’ pitching staff.

“He’s really kept his concentration behind the plate, handling his pitchers,” Bochy said last month. “He’s as good as he ever was back there. Sometimes you let the hitting affect other aspects of the game, but he hasn’t done that at all. He’s done a tremendous job of handling these pitchers. The hitting part, you can have an off year. We’ll get that figured out. Through all that, the most important job for a catcher is handling the pitchers, trying to find a way to win a ballgame, and he’s been relentless with doing that.”

What went wrong?

As Bochy alluded to, Posey endured his worst offensive season to date, batting .257 with a career-low .688 OPS over 114 games in 2019. He hit only seven home runs, with his first and only homer at Oracle Park coming in the final week of the regular season. The Giants remain optimistic that Posey will rebound as he moves farther away from hip surgery, but Posey cautioned that he doesn’t believe a normal offseason will be an automatic harbinger of a resurgent campaign in 2020.

“You hope so,” Posey said. “But at the same time, you don’t want to make excuses. I don’t ever want to be somebody who says, ‘Well, I get a normal offseason. Everything [will be fine].’ You go and do what you do to prepare the best you can and then come out and give it what you’ve got. That’s ultimately all you can do. I don’t think it’s fair to speculate that if I get a ‘normal offseason’ [things will change]. I mean, I’m hopeful that it will make a difference. But we’ll see.”

Best moment

Posey’s first home run of the season was a big one, as he crushed a go-ahead, three-run shot off Pirates right-hander Chris Archer to lift the Giants to a 3-2 win at PNC Park on April 21. It marked Posey’s first home run since June 19, 2018, snapping a career-long home run drought that spanned 237 at-bats.

2020 outlook

Posey has two years remaining on his contract, with a team option for 2022. But his role figures to change when catcher Joey Bart, the Giants’ No. 1 prospect (per MLB Pipeline) arrives, perhaps as early as next year. While there had been talk of moving Posey to first base to accommodate Bart, such a move would make little sense now that much of Posey’s value is derived from his defense behind the plate.

Posey plans to make some tweaks to his swing this offseason, but it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to recapture the offensive form he had at his peak. Still, Posey remains committed to helping the Giants win however he can. He is eager to take Bart under his wing and ease his transition to the Major Leagues, much like Bengie Molina did for him at the beginning of his career.