Best Season Ever by a Giants Catcher?

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With Buster Posey’s homer and two singles last night, Baseball-reference now has the Giants’ backstop with 5.8 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) for the 2012 season.

Here are the highest WAR seasons by a Giants catcher, over the history of the franchise (minimum, one game caught during the season):
1. Buster Posey (2012) 5.8
2. Roger Bresnahan (1908) 5.6
3. Walker Cooper (1947) 5.1
T4. Buck Ewing (1883 and 1888) 4.6
6. Buck Ewing (1884) 4.5

In-season WAR can do down as well as up. So it’s possible that Buster could, if he slumps in this last few weeks of the season, drop from the top spot on the list above. But the guy sure isn’t in a slump at the moment.

Highest OPS in the Majors Since the All-Star Break (min. 100 PAs):
1. Buster Posey 1.118
2. Miguel Cabrera 1.047
3. Giancarlo Stanton 1.012
4. Albert Pujols 1.011
5. Josh Donaldson 1.007

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Brent

12 years ago

And he is not even assured of having the most WAR for a catcher in the NL. Yadi Molina’s is 5.7. I wonder how that stacks up in Cardinals history?

Author

birtelcom

12 years ago

Reply to Brent

Best WAR seasons by a Cardinals catcher:
Tim McCarver (1967) 5.8
Yadier Molina (2012 to date) 5.7
Ted Simmons (1973 and 1978) 5.3
Joe Torre (1970) 5.2

tag

12 years ago

Reply to birtelcom

I remember that one season when Darrell Porter walked 10 gazillion times and had something like 7 1/2 WAR. But I’m pretty sure he did that when he was still with KC, not STL. I’m guessing that Piazza or Carter had higher WAR seasons, but I certainly recall that career year by Porter.

Brent

12 years ago

Reply to tag

Porter 1979. He was amazing that year. His WAR was 7.4.

Brent

12 years ago

Reply to tag

Top 10 WAR seasons for a catcher since 1969 (known by some as the Division Era, I prefer to call it my lifetime):

1) Bench 1972 8.5
2) Piazza 1997 8.5
3) Carter 1982 8.3
4) Bench 1974 7.7
5) Mauer 2009 7.6
6) Porter 1979 7.4
7) Carter 1984 7.2
8) Bench 1970 7.1
9) Fisk 1972 7.0
10) Munson 1973 6.9

Yippeeyappee

12 years ago

Hands up everyone who would have guessed Josh Donaldson when asked to name the top 5 OPS players since the break. Now hands down all liars.

12 years ago

Reply to Yippeeyappee

Hands up everyone who had never heard of Josh Donaldson until now… It should be noted he’s played about half as many games as Buster, Miggy and Albert in that timeframe.

mosc

12 years ago

Reply to RJ

I had to look him up yeah. Guy has 103 plate appearances since the all star break. I’d cry small sampling size but the guy’s June-July-August stint in AAA had a 1.000 OPS as well.

He had exactly 100 plate appearances before the break too:
.153/.160/.235/.395. That’s a pitcher’s line right there.

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to RJ

Yeah, when you’re over 1.000 OPS in half a seasons worth of at-bats and you still can’t get you’re seasonal OPS mark above .700 you had to really be stinkin’ up the joint in the first half.

bstar

12 years ago

Reply to RJ

Color me embarrassed. I did not know who Josh Donaldson was.

Howard

12 years ago

Reply to bstar

After I read this article I picked Donaldson up for my fantasy team. I had heard of him but didn’t realize how well he was hitting.

12 years ago

The NL MVP vote should be interesting, as I don’t see a standout candidate, especially with McCutchen slumping. You’d figure Posey’s position, plus being on a probable playoff team would garner him bonus points, but for some reason I have difficulty seeing him winning it.

Brooklyn Mick

12 years ago

Reply to RJ

Current NL WAR leaders for position players: McCutchen 6.4 (Had a terrible August…looks to be back on track) Wright 6.1 (Won’t get the votes due to Mets poor showing) Braun 6.0 (Still playing under a PED shadow) Bourn 6.0 (Most voters still don’t know what WAR is) Posey 5.8 (Has the counting numbers that voters still look for) Molina 5.7 (Great defense and .319 BA won’t hurt) I think it’s between Posey (167 OPS+) and McCutchen (168 OPS+) but it’s very close. Buster is good but not great defensively. McCutchen’s defense is below average. I’m just not sure how much… Read more »

topper009

12 years ago

Reply to Brooklyn Mick

Still playing under a PED shadow? What does that mean, do people think that after he “got off” he just continued right on using whatever he supposedly used last season? If anything his ability to put up a better year this season than last if proof last season was legit and any PED suspicion should rightfully be ignored.

If Braun leads the league in HR and RBI he will get serious consideration.

Brooklyn Mick

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

I’m talking about the “perception” of both the public and the voters. The court of public opinion sucks, but it’s a reality.

tag

12 years ago

Reply to topper009

Well, topper, I’m not sure it proves anything of the sort. Just because you go off steroids does not mean you can’t retain the benefits of having done them. Of course it takes a lot of dedicated work (which professional athletes have the time and motivation to put in) and you have to ingest a lot of calories, but you can retain much of the muscle mass and strength you gained from the cycles you did for x amount of time (x depending on such variables as genetics, body build, etc.). Braun, if he indeed took steroids (and the disallowed… Read more »

tag

12 years ago

Reply to tag

It’s a key reason why such organizations as the track and field one and the biking one ban you for two years. That’s generally believed to be how long you can retain the advantages provided you keep training and eat like a horse.

tag

12 years ago

Carlos Ruiz was the early frontrunner to receive the best performance of the year by a catcher (NL) Oscar, but then he got injured and Yadier Molina got hot. Now Buster has strung together a series of hits and seems to have taken over the frontrunner spot, though he and Molina appear to be running neck and neck. If the Giants win the division Posey could garner serious MVP attention, given McCutchen’s August slump and no other clear favorite. He’s already risen to become my second favorite Buster ever, though he has zero chance of displacing from the top spot… Read more »

Author

birtelcom

12 years ago

Reply to tag

Buster Keaton’s movies, in addition to being great works in themselves, helped me get through a post-surgery convalescence years ago, so no one will ever top him for me either. But note that for years Lou Gehrig was widely referred to by the nickname Buster.

tag

12 years ago

Reply to birtelcom

When they show them over here, you still get the live piano player for the score and once in a great, great while a whole orchestra.

A couple years back I took my older daughter (a usual jaded teen who had previously complained about watching black-and-white films, let alone silent ones) to see “Sherlock Jr.” Her jaw hit the floor and she still counts it among her favorites.

Didn’t know that about Lou Gehrig. But back then a good chunk of the US male population was called Buster or Butch.

CursedClevelander

12 years ago

Reply to tag

Where does Posey rank now among all-time Busters?

I would say: Below Buster Keaton, above both Buster Douglas and Buster Bunny, and lagging slightly behind the combined might of the entire Ghostbusters squad.

Brent

12 years ago

Reply to CursedClevelander

Some other Busters to consider: Buster Crabbe (Tarzan, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers among his other roles) , about a dozen Busters who were either jazz or blues Musicians, Buster Mathis (Sr. and Jr.), Buster Rhymes (who inspired the similarly named rapper’s name and, more importantly, fired an Uzi on the Univeristy of Oklahoma’s campus when he was a player there), Buster Olney, Buster (the Mythbusters crash dummy), Buster the dog (Toy Story), Buster Brown (early 20th century comic strip character for whom the shoes are named), and Buster Baxter (from the cartoon show Arthur)

Editor

Dan McCloskey

12 years ago

Reply to Brent

Not to mention Byron “Buster” Bluth, from Arrested Development.

12 years ago

Reply to Brent

There was also a pitcher named Buster Brown in the early 1900s. Terrible record (51-103) but 10.7 career WAR.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/brownbu01.shtml

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Brent

You’ve left out Buster da Body Crab from an early Cheech and Chong bit.

Jeff

12 years ago

Just so were clear here, Posey is hands down the best catcher in baseball this year. If Molina is the best then why is his numbers less in every single category? Paoey has 24 more RBI, 27 more BB’s, 11 more points in avg, 3 more HR, 7 more doubles, 32 points higher OBP, 37 more points SLG and 12 more runs scored…all played in the toughest hitters park in MLB. Molina is a better defensive catcher no doubt but hitting wise it ain’t that clsoe. A top 3-5 MVP voting is much deserved.

tag

12 years ago

Reply to Jeff

Jeff,

Agree with your point, but defense is pretty important for a catcher. Posey is clearly a better hitter, but just as clearly Molina is a better catcher. I favor Posey in the comparison, but a good case can still be made for Molina,

Jeff

12 years ago

Also, Posey is 2nd in the NL 5 points back in OBP as well as 5th in SLG% 3rd in avg and 8th in RBI. He’s even 4th in OPS and 5th in total WAR. If McCutchen doesn’t win it(slumping team) or Braun(bad team) it has to be Posey. Honestly, Braun didn’t deserve it last year in my opinion…KEMP. Great stats plus a playoff bound team typically equals MVP.

deal

12 years ago

Not sure if this is factored into the WAR stats here but almost 20% of Posey’s Games and PAs are at positions other than catcher (1B/DH).

However all but one of his HRs are as a catcher.

12 years ago

Reply to deal

Yes it is factored in. Under “Player Value – Batters” you’ll see something called Rpos which stands for runs from positional scarcity. Posey is at +4, Molina at +6 which reflects the time that Posey’s spent at 1B/Dh.