Every Giants fan that passes through the turnstiles of AT&T Park hopes they’ll get to see Buster Posey work his magic behind the plate. After nine years in the Major Leagues, Posey has solidified himself as one of the best active catchers in the game.
Yet, as Posey’s age continues to rise, so will questions regarding how much time he will spend catching in the coming seasons. Now 30-years-old, it’s understandable that fans might start to see less of Posey behind the dish with the hope it’ll bring about more offensive production and elongate his career.
However, manager Bruce Bochy revealed to Murph & Mac on Wednesday morning that if the Giants do well this season, he plans to maintain Posey’s workload in 2018.
“It’s going to be over 100 games,” Bochy said. “I’ll say this, if we have a really good year, Buster will catch at least 120 in that area… I think you’re asking for trouble and risking injury and once you wear a catcher down and his legs are gone, it takes a while for him to bounce back. I’ve done that a few times with Buster and it’s not like one day off is going to help him.”
After catching a career-high 123 games in 2016, Posey’s time behind the plate dropped significantly as Brandon Belt dealt with several concussions throughout last season. Consequently, Posey caught 99 games in 2017 — his lowest since his injury-shortened 2011 season — while making 38 appearances at first base.
If the Giants do well and count on Posey to catch over 120 games, they’ll need a healthy Belt to get by with roughly 15 games from Posey at first base, the same number he played during 2016. Nonetheless, should the Giants need Posey to spend more time at first base, they have Nick Hundley as a reliable backup catcher.
“He’s working out as he usually does,” Bochy said about Posey. “This guy is religious with his routine, taking care of himself. He gets to the ballpark early and does his lifting, his conditioning, his throwing. He lives here, he’s going through all the things he needs to do before Spring Training.”
As opposed to years past, Posey will benefit from a change of pace in the upcoming schedule. Not only does Spring Training begin early this year, which will give the players plenty of time to prepare themselves for the regular season, but also the Giants have a much lighter schedule in terms of traveling.
“So, if you notice, I try to give him a day off where I can get him two days off. That’s when they really recover,” Bochy said. “The schedule is getting a little better. We’re starting Spring Training early this year. We’re going to have more days off. I think we have 20-plus days where we don’t have to travel on those days off. It’s going to be a little bit easier to run him out there for 115 or 120 games in that area.”
To listen to the full interview check out the podcast below, and skip to 5:56 for Bochy on Posey.