Buster Posey

Buster Posey
Posey with the San Francisco Giants in 2018
Catcher
Born: (1987-03-27) March 27, 1987 (age 37) Leesburg, Georgia, U.S.
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 11, 2009, for the San Francisco Giants
Last MLB appearance
October 3, 2021, for the San Francisco Giants
MLB statistics
Batting average	.302
Home runs	158
Runs batted in	729
Teams
San Francisco Giants (2009–2019, 2021)
Career highlights and awards
7× All-Star (2012, 2013, 2015–2018, 2021) 3× World Series champion (2010, 2012, 2014) NL MVP (2012) All-MLB Second Team (2021) NL Rookie of the Year (2010) Gold Glove Award (2016) 5× Silver Slugger Award (2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2021) NL Hank Aaron Award (2012) 2× NL Comeback Player of the Year (2012, 2021) NL batting champion (2012) Golden Spikes Award (2008) Dick Howser Trophy (2008)
Medals Men's baseball Representing  United States World Baseball Classic 2017 Los Angeles Team

Gerald Dempsey "Buster" Posey III^[1] (born March 27, 1987) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He spent his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the San Francisco Giants, from 2009 until his retirement at the conclusion of the 2021 season. In September 2022, Posey joined the Giants' ownership group.

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 Brooks Wallace Award in 2008. He was selected by the Giants 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.^[2] With the presence of then full-time catcher Bengie Molina, Posey played first base when originally called up to the majors, but became the Giants' regular catcher in June 2010 when Molina was traded to the Texas Rangers.

As a rookie, he 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 2011, after he was severely injured in a collision with the Florida Marlins' Scott Cousins at home plate, Posey missed most of the year. The collision is widely seen as pushing Major League Baseball to adopt rule 7.13 in regards to blocking the plate prior to the 2014 season, informally known as the "Buster Posey Rule".

Posey returned from his injury in 2012 and posted perhaps one of the greatest individual comeback seasons in sports history. He 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.^[3] 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.