Buster Posey: The Best Player in Baseball

He's irresistible.

Let me clear something up really quickly so that people don't get all crazy and hysterical. I'm not saying Buster Posey is the best player in the game, but he has been the best player in baseball in July. Maybe I could have come up with a better title to express what I was trying to write about, one that wasn't quite so misleading, but hell, that title just sounds too great. The point is that Buster Posey is playing like the best player in all of Major League Baseball right now.

Everyone knows that Buster Posey is on a tear right now. He had that crazy roadtrip where he just embarrassed major league pitching, driving opposite field home runs like it was nobody's business. And so far on this homestand, he hasn't cooled off. So, yes it is obvious that he has been really, really good, but I was shocked to see just how great he has been. Let's take a look at some of his numbers in July and where he ranks during that time.

AVG - .450 - 2nd

OBP - .493 - 1st

SLG - .883 - 1st

OPS - 1.376 - 1st

HR - 7 - 1st

RBI - 19 - 1st

RUNS - 16 - 1st

Keep in mind, these aren't NL rankings, they are ML rankings. He is 1st in every single major offensive category besides average, and average is the least important stat out of all those! I may be falling in love all over again.

And we haven't even discussed Posey's defensive game. Hint: It's good. Real good. The whole reason Posey came up and played first base while Bengie Molina and Eli Whiteside handled the catching duties was because he "wasn't ready to catch". He couldn't handle a pitching staff, wouldn't know what pitches to call in pressure situations, people said. I think he's doing alright. The starting staff has come out of the break on fire, with each starter having a good performance, and who was catching? Buster Posey. Posey was the one who must have called the right pitches yesterday to get Jeremy Affeldt and Brian Wilson out of bases loaded situations. And remember at the beginning of the year when baserunners could steal a bag in their sleep against the Giants? No longer a problem because Buster Posey has a gun and he loves to shoot people. That's a metaphor, don't take it seriously. While Posey's offensive game has been the best in the majors in July, his defense has been spectacular as well.

It's fun having a guy like Buster Posey come up from the minors and dominate major league pitching. It's kind of like how fun it was when Pablo Sandoval came up and was really good, but it's even better than that. Buster feels like one of our own, and he's a guy who may be the key to the Giants getting to the postseason. He obviously doesn't have to play as well as he's playing right now; those are unreasonable expectations for any player. But the Giants need him to play well and not hit some sort of rookie wall or slump. That might be an unfair burden for him, but he's shown that he may be able to handle it.