Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Buster Posey gets his hands in the dirt and has dealt with plenty of filth courtesy Giants pitchers. But even when he was a high school pitcher, he never threw the nasty pitches he tossed last year.
If he was in the crouch, it was because babies require that sort of stance often. As he watched the Giants from afar, having opted out to care for his newborn and newly adopted twins, he would keep his arm in shape and entertain his son, Lee, with freshly changed diapers.
Lee is understandably not a big fan of his siblings’ waste.
“The fun thing with him is I’ll change a diaper from a baby and ball it up real tight,” Posey said over Zoom on Wednesday. “He knows that I’m about to fire it at him, and he’ll go running.”
He’s a smart player and father. He’ll remember what the babies, Ada and Livvi, have been eating, which will be reflected in the weight of his improvised ball.
“I’ve been pretty accurate,” Posey said with a smile perhaps not shared by Lee.
Buster Posey is back, having said a temporary goodbye to his healthy family, who will be joining him in Scottsdale soon, and embarking on the strangest spring training of his career and possibly his last. His interview with reporters was virtual, the mask he wore on the field a reminder of why he did not play in 2020. He correctly chose his family, who needed him and needed to be especially careful of the pandemic, over the 60-game season and money that came with it.
He did not retire and he did not fully remove the game from his life. He watched “nearly every bit of the games last year,” with an eye toward his own staff and opponents around the league. A significant reason Kevin Gausman came to San Francisco last year was because of Posey, and now the two can work together in real games. Posey probably watched a July 25 game against the Dodgers and saw Alex Wood, now his teammate, pitch against the Giants. There will be a lot of catching up, but his mind stayed ready.
As did his body, which looks to be in shape. Following the season ending, he was a frequent visitor to Oracle Park and began again honing a swing he partially revamped before last year. He will be 34 next month and has not played a game since 2019, when he posted a career-worst .688 OPS. But he is fresh, another year removed from hip surgery and hopeful the same hitting minds who revitalized Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt can do the same for him.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Buster Posey is BACK pic.twitter.com/q1TuUMtd9w
— KNBR (@KNBR) February 17, 2021
But perhaps today is not the right time to focus on his swing.
“It was great to see Buster smiling and joking around and laughing,” Gabe Kapler said. “And that’s just an indication of how much he appreciates being back on the field.”
The Giants have an option that they likely will not pick up for Posey for the 2022 season, meaning this could be his final one in orange and black — or perhaps final one in baseball.
He’s not the type to go chasing statistics, even if a bit more accumulating might guarantee him a Hall of Fame slot. He has three World Series rings and doesn’t need to chase those, either. He’s already proven he is not in this for the money.
He acknowledged that yes, it has crossed his mind this could be his final spring training with the Giants.
“My biggest goal this year is to really just go — as cliché as it is — one day at a time and try to focus on what needs to be accomplished for that day, whether it’s stuff in the weight room or cage work or extra catching or whatever it may be. Try not to get too far ahead.”
It was a strange day, one that included a return and contemplating another goodbye, with so many questions remaining about what he has left.
What is clear, though, is his mind is intact.
“Four kids at home, the older ones doing Zoom school,” Posey said. “My wife and I are proud to say that we’ve kept our sanity.”
