Buster Posey Looks Good in Spring Training, Manager Bruce Bochy to Limit Catching Duties

By Vince Cestone

A bit of good news for those San Francisco Giants' fans worried about the health of Buster Posey.

On KNBR radio earlier this week, avid baseball enthusiast and radio broadcaster/historian Marty Lurie said Buster Posey didn't even look like he was injured. He was throwing, hitting, and catching the ball as if he was not injured.

I always knew that Buster Posey was a resilient young player, and I had no doubt that he would get through this. When I heard Lurie say that Posey looked as if he was not injured, somehow I was not surprised.

Due to Posey's fearless attitude both at the plate and behind the dish, who's to stop him from blocking the plate again and succumbing to another season-ending surgery?

Bruce Bochy, that's who.

According to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, Bruce Bochy said after a workout last Sunday he did not want Buster Posey blocking the plate when runners attempt to score.

Rajiv Patel/Flickr UCinternational[(www.creativecommons.org]

"I don't want him blocking the plate right now," Bochy told Schulman. "I've already talked to Buster about this. There are ways you can make the tag without blocking the plate."

Schulman also reported Posey wanted to catch during the Cactus League opener on March 3.



...

I understand Bochy's willingness to protect his star catcher, but what happens when the game is on the line?

Imagine this scenario...

The Giants are playing a wild game in Colorado. The Giants were down by a couple of runs heading into the top of the ninth inning, but they score two runs to tie it.

The bottom of the ninth inning comes along.

The Giants retired Dexter Fowler on a ground out. The next batter, Jonathan Herrera triples. Up comes Carlos Gonzales.

Gonzales hits a fly ball to shallow-to-medium right field. Nate Schierholtz catches the ball and fires home. The ball approaches Posey who must stand behind the plate, or somewhere outside of the baseline, as Herrera races home.

The ball hits Posey's glove when Herrera is two feet from home plate. Posey makes a lunging attempt to tag Herrera, but Herrera does a fade-away slide and gets his hand on the third-base edge of the plate before Posey can tag him.

The Rockies win the game.

Had Posey blocked the plate, and he hung on, the Giants take the game into extras.

Conservatism does not work in do-or-die plays. Posey knows that, and I think he would, in the heat of the moment, block the plate and do what is best for his team to win at that moment. He is just that kind of player.

The point is to play the game right. If you get injured, whether you are Buster Posey or Scott Cousins, that is just part of the game.

Remember, in sports, nothing is for certain--whether it's success or your health. If you play a sport in fear, then what's the point of even playing the game if you cannot play it right?

What do you guys think? Will Posey disobey Bochy's orders and let his adrenaline and desire to win take over on a do-or-die play?

Was Bochy right to discourage Posey to not block the plate, and perhaps discourage him from playing the game right? Is it fair that Eli Whiteside could block the plate, as opposed to Posey?

We will find out the answers to some of these compelling question as the season begins.

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Photo Attribution: By Rajiv Patel (Rajiv's View) on Flickr (Original version)UCinternational (Crop) [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons