San Francisco Giants: Buster Posey’s Incredible Value
By Ryan Schultz
Buster Posey, former Rookie of the Year and MVP for the San Francisco Giants, is among the best catchers in the league. His value to the Giants cannot be overstated.
Catchers are weird. Evaluating catchers is weird and difficult. What they do best (deal with pitchers, frame pitches, etc.) is incredibly hard to quantify. Oftentimes catchers aren’t the greatest hitters on the team. In fact, the league average slash line for catchers is .242/.310/.389 this season. I even looked back to 1986, one decade at a time, and there was little to no change in the numbers. Essentially, catchers throughout the league have never been great hitters. League average for all positions in wRC+ is considered to be 100. League average for catchers in the same category is considerably less, at 86.
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Because catchers are so notoriously bad at hitting, when teams find a catcher who can hit while playing over 100 games behind the plate he becomes incredibly valuable to them. Buster Posey is one of those catchers. This year he has played 86 games behind the plate, 11 at first base, and five as a designated hitter when the Giants have visited American League parks. At this rate, he will most likely finish with around 100 games behind the plate. During 2016 he has hit .288/.368/.454 with a .166 ISO and 125 wRC+. According to both bWAR and fWAR, Posey has been worth 3.4 wins above replacement. When compared to the rest of the league, those numbers in WAR are above average but certainly not elite. Those two stats do not take into account one of Posey’s most valuable assets: framing.
Framing has always been part of the craft of a catcher, but recently there has been more focus on it than ever. The ability to get your pitcher a extra strikes throughout a game can prove to be incredibly valuable over a season. Buster Posey just happens to be one of the best, if not the best, in the league at framing. In the recent years, Baseball Prospectus has developed their own framing stat, CSAA. It’s in the early stages of development, but unfortunately it’s all we have to work with. Buster Posey leads the league in that stat.
In Baseball Prospectus’ version of WAR (WARP), CSAA is taken into account for catchers. For that reason combined with Posey’s offense, he is among the leaders in WARP. In fact his 6.62 WARP lead the league, with Kris Bryant, Jose Altuve, and Mike Trout falling in right behind him. All three of those players are candidates for their respective MVP awards, so naturally it follows that Posey is among the most valuable players in the league.
Buster Posey most likely won’t even finish in the top five of NL MVP voting, but he has tremendous value to the Giants. Not only is Posey a key part of their offense, but what he provides defensively is nearly unmatched on the team. With new pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto joining the fold this season, the transition was incredibly smooth. Cueto even looks better than he did last season, perhaps thanks to some help from Posey.
Catchers are weird. It comes down to that. The defensive value that a good catcher behind the plate adds cannot be overstated. When that same catcher can also be an above average hitter with some pop in his bat, you have a superstar. That’s what Buster Posey is.