Buster Posey: The Ideal Cleanup Hitter

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When you think of a cleanup hitter you usually think of a power hitter that plays one of the corner infield spots such as 1st or 3rd baseman. These guys are usually the type that hit lots of home runs, drive in a lot of runs and strikeout a bunch. When it comes to San Francisco Giants cleanup hitter Buster Posey things are a bit different. He plays catcher, he doesn’t strike out 100 times and has won a batting title. In many ways he’s a breath of fresh air and a nice change of pace from the prototype cleanup hitters. He has already won an MVP but at 27 years of age he seems to be maturing into a better ballplayer.

As I type this on May 8th the San Francisco Giants are 21-14 and tied for first place in the National League’s western division along with the Colorado Rockies. At the forefront of their success is a usual suspect in Buster Posey who is doing a solid job at the plate and behind it. Posey captured the NL MVP back in 2012 and has captured 2 world series titles in his six seasons in the MVP. He’s already done more than a lot of guys his age in the majors have but the scary part is he is progressing as a player.

You see this season he producing like usual as a clean up hitter for the Giants. Through 32 games he is hitting .294 with 16 runs scored, 2 doubles, 7 home runs, 17 runs batted in and an OPS of .876 so far. The thing that really impresses me about Posey is his patience at the plate. Usually your cleanup hitter as much more strikeouts than walks but with Posey that’s not the case, his walks and strikeouts are nearly even. Through 32 games played he has 15 strikeouts and 14 walks. That’s astounding for a guy in the 4th spot of the order and it really speaks to the level of discipline Posey displays as a hitter. He has never struck out 100 times in his 6-year career, his career high was 96 strikeouts back in 2012 which was his MVP year.

His average is down by his standards and if you compare it to his MVP year then its way down. He had a superb April in 2012 which saw him hit .353 and set him up for a great rest of the season. He is currently hitting .291 as of May 8th 2013, coming into May 8th of 2012 he was hitting baseball at a .312 clip. You do the math that’s a 21 point difference in batting average, .291 is still a very solid average but it just shows you how great he started that year off. He can still get hot and hit well over .300 this season, he wound up winning the batting title hitting .336 that year.

Either way I think Buster Posey will be a top 5 candidate before its all said this year. The Giants are playing solid baseball, he’s hitting the ball well and still has room to go. For Posey I Believe it’s a matter of time before he gets hot and really begins to pad his stats. The next 3 series for the Giants will be a good barometer to see where Posery and the rest of the lineup is at offensively as their next 3 opponents are top 10 in the MLB in ERA and quality starts. Those next 3 opponents are the Dodgers, Braves and Marlins who all boast solid starting staffs. It doesn’t matter though Posey is a bigtime players and I’m sure will raise his level of play for those games. Posey is looking to get the 3rd championship of his career and if he continues his production and team success he could be looking at another MVP award.