Buster Posey

Lore & Background

Posey was born in Leesburg, Georgia. He played four sports in high school; in baseball, he excelled at hitting and pitching. He attended Florida State University, where he began playing the catcher and first base positions. He won the Golden Spikes Award and the Johnny Bench Award (now the Buster Posey Award) in 2008.

The Giants selected him with the fifth overall pick in the first round of the 2008 MLB draft. Posey made his MLB debut on September 11, 2009. He and Madison Bumgarner both made their Major League debuts in 2009 and established a reputation as one of the best batteries in recent MLB history. As a rookie, Posey finished with a .305 batting average, 18 home runs, and 67 runs batted in.

He caught every inning of the playoffs as the Giants won the 2010 World Series. He was named the NL Rookie of the Year. In May 2011, after he was severely injured in a collision with the Florida Marlins' Scott Cousins at home plate, Posey missed the rest of the year. The collision is widely seen as pushing Major League Baseball to adopt rule 7.13 regarding blocking the plate prior to the 2014 season, informally known as the "Buster Posey Rule".

Posey returned from his injury in 2012 and caught Matt Cain's perfect game, batted .336 to win the 2012 NL batting title and was voted the 2012 NL MVP. He won his second World Series that year, as the Giants swept the Detroit Tigers in four games. In 2013, Posey signed a franchise-record eight-year, $167 million contract extension with the Giants. He won his third World Series the following year as the Giants defeated the Kansas City Royals.

Posey is the second player in MLB history, after Pete Rose, to win the Rookie of the Year, a League MVP, and three World Series championships. Posey played in four no-hitters in his career, catching three of them. In 2016, he won a Gold Glove Award. In 2019, the Johnny Bench Award was renamed the Buster Posey Award, which honors college baseball's top NCAA Division I catcher.

After opting out of the shortened 2020 MLB season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Posey led the Giants to a franchise-record 107 wins in his final season in 2021. In September 2022, Posey joined the Giants' ownership group and two years later became their president of baseball operations.

Reader's Guide

He won the 2012 NL MVP and the 2010 NL Rookie of the Year. He caught every inning of the playoffs in the 2010 World Series win. He caught Matt Cain's perfect game in 2012. He played in four no-hitters, catching three. He won a Gold Glove Award in 2016. The Johnny Bench Award was renamed the Buster Posey Award in 2019.

Did You Know?

• Posey was drafted in the 50th round of the 2005 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim but chose to attend college instead.
• He played all nine fielding positions in a college game for Florida State on May 12, 2008.
• His nickname 'Buster' came from his father's childhood nickname.
• He graduated high school with a 3.94 GPA, fourth in his class of 302 students.