Posey the driving force behind Giants

Buster Posey got two more hits last night and hit a home run, and the Giants won again, this time over the D-backs. He even scored a big run in the eighth inning on Brandon Crawford’s double. After he scored on the double, he said to his new teammate, Kris Bryant, “I’m so fast.” The Giants catcher, one of the great catchers of all time, was joking. But what’s no joke is this:

After sitting out the 2020 season, Buster Posey is great again.

We all know about the physical issues Posey has had across his storied Giants career. We know about the day he got run over at home plate and baseball changed the rules because of that collision with Scott Cousins in May 2011, one that shattered Posey’s leg. Three years ago, Posey was a catcher undergoing hip surgery. So there are reasons why the Giants are being cautious with Posey’s playing time this season. Through last night, when he was a star again for his team, Posey has played just 74 out of the Giants’ 113 games.

This is what Posey’s manager, Gabe Kapler, said all the way back in May, when we were just beginning to see how much team Kapler has this season:

“I think the motivation here is simple, and it's to keep Buster healthy and fresh and make sure that his body is recovering. It’s not easy, but I do think it pays dividends. I think Buster believes it pays dividends. We’re all pretty committed to making sure that he gets the rest that he needs, even as great as it is to have him in the lineup and in the batter’s box for us.”

The biggest dividend is this one: When Posey has been on the field, he has been the best player on the best team in baseball.

And it is even more than that with Posey: When he’s been on the field, he has been as valuable as any player in his league, without question.

He has 14 home runs in those 74 games. He is batting .333. His OPS is .977. His lifetime batting average is still over .300, in what is the 11th season of his Giants career, one that absolutely has him on track for Cooperstown. There was once a stretch in his career, between 2012-17, when he averaged catching 116 games per season and played 879 in all at catcher and first base. All in, he is the first player in the history of the Giants, in New York and San Francisco, to catch 1,000 games. On top of everything else, he was the NL MVP in 2012, when he hit an MLB-best .336 and had 24 homers and 103 RBIs.

And he has won. Has he ever. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Yogi Berra won nine World Series with the Yankees as a catcher (catching at least one postseason game). Bill Dickey won seven with the Yankees. Since Yogi, Jorge Posada has the most as a catcher with four. The Giants have won three with Posey, starting in 2010 when he was a rookie. And they may be going for four this season.

Posey has a fine backup in Curt Casali -- the two of them being a formidable combination behind the plate, with Posey being the first to recognize Casali’s contributions. Casali has been in 53 games for Kapler, is hitting .225 and he has always been known for his fine work with pitchers, wherever he’s played.

“It’s really special to be a part of,” Casali said.

Casali is backing up a special player in Posey, who has been such a crucial part of Giants history over the past decade and is now looking to help the team make more. Posey does this after electing to sit out the 2020 season (with the full support of his team), during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, because he and his wife had adopted identical twin girls, born eight weeks prematurely.

"In the current state that we are right now and these babies being as fragile as they are for the next four months, at minimum, this ultimately wasn't that difficult a decision for me," Posey said at the time as he explained the decision he and Kristen Posey had made. "From a baseball standpoint, it was a tough decision. From a family standpoint and feeling like I'm making a decision to protect our children, I think it was relatively easy."

There were two faces of the Giants when they were winning three World Series that only puts them behind the Red Sox in this century: One was the great Madison Bumgarner. The other was Buster Posey. Bumgarner is with the D-backs now. Posey is still behind the plate at Oracle Park. The Giants have been the surprise of baseball this season. It really should be no surprise to anyone that Posey, when healthy, can still play baseball this way.

Best player on the best team when he’s out there. As much an MVP as anybody when he is. The Giants are back, in a big way. So is he.