For the first time since 2009, the Giants have to think about life after Buster Posey.
Posey, 34, will announce his retirement on Thursday sources have told Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic.
Posey will retire as the greatest catcher in franchise history and one of its most winningest, earning three World Series rings with the Giants during his 12-year tenure.
An overwhelming list of accomplishments summarize Posey’s career, yet only on the surface. He was the 2010 NL Rookie of the Year, the 2012 NL Most Valuable Player, a two-time Comeback Player of the Year, a batting champion and a gold glover.
After 12 seasons, all with the Giants, Posey finished with a career .302 average. Only 214 players — and six catchers — have ever eclipsed a .300 batting average over their career.
In 2021, Posey returned after taking 2020 off to spend time with his family; he and his wife Kristen adopted twin girls in 2020 and already had twins together.
Posey returned to the Giants in 2021 and thrived. On a workload management program, the 34-year-old was more rested and hit .304 with 18 home runs — his most since 2015. Yasmani Grandal was the only catcher with at least 200 plate appearances to record a higher OPS than Posey, who was named to his seventh All-Star team.
After the Dodgers eliminated the Giants in the NLDS, Posey was asked how he feels physically and about his future. He’d previously sat once a series, but played almost every day for the stretch run and in the postseason. The catcher appeared worn down. He said he was excited to be a full-time dad in the winter and didn’t commit either way.
Now Posey and his family have reportedly decided. He won’t be wearing a Giants uniform in 2022.
Joey Bart, a promising prospect with power whom the Giants selected with the second overall pick in the 2018 draft, appears slotted to replace Posey as SF’s everyday catcher.
But regardless of who crouches behind the plate, it’ll be a new era in San Francisco. Pitchers raved about Posey’s game-calling skills and feel. He earned a reputation as an excellent teammate — even-keeled and prone to lead by example. You can’t teach that.
What’s next for Posey is a mystery. He could coach, or drift away from the game. He could stay in the Bay or move back home to Georgia. He could return to Oracle Park for special occasions, much more frequently or never at all.
His Cooperstown resumé is loaded with accomplishments, though lacking in counting stats that come with longevity. It’s hard to represent a franchise — and a sport — with more grace than Posey did. That may or may not matter to Hall voters.
What’s certain though is that Posey, a converted shortstop who played his Golden Spikes Award-level college ball at Florida State, lived up to his immense potential and then some. It’s clear that he ushered in a new era of San Francisco Giants baseball — an era of professionalism and class and winning — and that the franchise should hope to carry on his legacy by continuing what he started.
