Different buzz around Posey
Giants catcher 1-for-3 in limited action, drawing big raves from pitchers
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. >> Giants manager Gabe Kapler can feel it.
“There has been a different buzz around Buster,” he said Thursday.
With the return of the Giants’ franchise cornerstone and star catcher, the club has a sense of stability at one of baseball’s most important positions that was sorely lacking during the 2020 season.
After Posey elected to sit out last year’s 60-game schedule to care for his newborn, adopted twin girls with his wife Kristen, there’ s genuine excitement and a bit of curiosity about what’s in store for the six-time AllStar in 2021.
“The at-bats have been good,” Kapler said. “One thing I noticed today was in between innings, throwing the ball down to second base, a real live arm, good feet, good mechanics, Buster is smiling a lot and he just seems to be in a really good place and as a result, I think the camp is in a really good place as well.”
Posey’s longest-tenured teammates agree.
“He’s been kind of like the team captain for the last 10 years,” shortstop Brandon Crawford said. “So to not have a guy like that in your lineup night in and night out, was a little bit tougher last year. Obviously we managed to get pretty close and have a shot at the playoffs up until the last game of the season, but he’s definitely a difference-maker.”
The players who are most eager to watch Posey’s comeback unfold are unsurprisingly the ones who will work most closely with him: The Giants pitchers.
With several newcomers to the team’s rotation and bullpen including left-hander Alex Wood, the Giants are counting on Posey to bring his steady presence, his high baseball IQ and his Gold Glove-caliber defense to work on a daily basis.
So far, so good.
“I think like anything there is a little bit of a learning curve when you’re
behind the plate catching,” Wood said. “But Buster is a really smart guy. He’s caught a lot of guys, a lot of really talented guys over the years and just to get out there and get a report with him, and him to learn me and where I like him to set up, the target, visual, all of that stuff was great. He’s been a lot of fun.”
EOWN ON TKF HARM >> The Giants’ 2017 first round draft choice, Heliot Ramos, has been in the spotlight quite a bit this week, and that’s for good reason.
Considered a “leader” of the next wave of Giants homegrown prospects by the organization’s farm director, Kyle Haines, Ramos is off to an impressive start this spring and has three hits in five at-bats. While other highly touted prospects including Marco Luciano and Hunter Bishop have struggled to put the bat on the ball in early spring training appearances (remember…it’s a small sample size), Ramos has drilled three singles and shown an impressive opposite-field approach.
There are a few elements
of Ramos’ game that immediately stand out based on a handful of Cactus League at-bats. The 21-year-old has good bat speed and isn’t fazed by velocity, which should immediately catch the eyes of the Giants’ top evaluators.
Another component of Ramos’ hitting profile that suggests he’s inching closer toward the majors? The power-hitting outfielder says he’s focused on improving his plate discipline and laying off breaking balls below the strike zone. Ramos pointed to the 2018 season he spent with the Augusta Greenjackets and his high strikeout total as the motivation
behind his focus on developing a more discerning eye, but it’s clear the Giants’ front office and player development staff has made “swinging at pitches you can drive” a point of emphasis among the top prospects.
When Ramos talks hitting philosophy, it’s clear the 2020 season wasn’t a lost year for him. While many prospects spent the summer at home due to the cancelation of the minor league season, Ramos and a few of the Giants’ other highest-rated young players received invitations to major league camp in July and spent the next two months at the team’s Sacramento alternate site.
Instead of receiving 400to-500 at-bats at Double-A last year, Ramos probably accumulated half that total at the alternate site and during fall instructional league play. One of the secrets to making the most of those plate appearances was working directly with major league coaches in summer camp and the top minds and instructors in the Giants’ farm system for the remainder of the year.
With opportunities to hit against Triple-A-caliber arms and several pitchers with major league experience as well as to play in an intense, focused setting under the watch of the Giants’ most trusted player development staffers, Ramos took a step forward.
Yes, he was hurt by not playing in 140 games last year, but it’s already clear this spring that there’s plenty of reason for the Giants to be excited by his eventual arrival at the major league level.
Maybe that debut isn’t as far off as we initially thought.
STATDAST STUEY >> With roster sizes shrinking from 28 to 26 players this year, Kapler and the Giants won’t be able to have as many platoons as they did a year ago.
Players who appeared in part-time capacities will have to improve their positional versatility, prove they’re more capable against pitchers who throw from both the right and left sides and generally offer the club some flexibility.
It’s hard to imagine either Austin Slater or Darin Ruf not being on the Giants’ roster this year after both were such tremendous assets against left-handed pitchers in 2020, but it could be difficult for Zaidi and Harris to find room for players who haven’t traditionally fared as well against righties.
The Giants could very well find a way to keep both Slater and Ruf, particularly if Slater proves capable in center field and Ruf serviceable at first base, but it’s worth evaluating who offered the club more value last season.
Slater racked up more WAR (1.0 to 0.6), but Ruf had a higher overall slugging percentage and his OPS against right-handed pitchers was more than 130 points higher than Slater’s. That might make Ruf a better fit for the 2021 club, but Slater is younger, faster (he stole eight bases) and had a considerably higher barrel percentage than Ruf.
Slater’s 14.1 barrel percentage was one of the highest totals on the Giants roster and if he’s able to come close to replicating that total this year, he could be a doubles machine. His .540 expected slugging percentage was also nearly 100 points higher than the .447 mark belonging to Ruf, so Slater likely fell victim to a bit of bad luck.
With a lower strikeout rate and higher walk rate than Ruf, Slater also showed he was able to keep the line moving more often and work deeper counts, which is particularly valuable for a Giants club that wants to put as much stress as possible on starting pitchers.
Both players provided meaningful contributions to the Giants in 2020 and it would serve this year’s club well if both were able to find roles that maximized favorable matchups for them, but the front office may soon be faced with some difficult decisions.
If Zaidi and Harris have to choose between keeping Slater and Ruf, the choice will almost certainly be the younger, faster Slater, but there’s plenty of time left for the Giants to work out some solutions to what figures to be a difficult roster crunch.