San Francisco Giants: Can Buster Posey Help the Lineup Produce More in 2012?

With five days left until pitchers and catchers report to Scottsdale, there are still many question marks with the San Francisco Giants' lineup.

The biggest question that all fans have is: Can Buster Posey help the Giants recover from a disappointing 2011 season?

During their championship run in 2010, Posey was one of the biggest reasons why they won it all. Many people were excited when he was called to the show once Bengie Molina was traded. We were anxious to see whether or not the hype of this young catcher would come to fruition.

And it did. Batting .305 with 18 home runs and 67 RBI in 108 games, Posey went on to win the Rookie of the Year. He hit cleanup through most of the season and all throughout the playoffs.

Fans were excited for his play in 2011 until he was tragically injured in the collision at home plate with Florida Marlins outfielder Scott Cousins. Posey's season-ending hurt each and every fan in the Bay Area.

Now that he has been recovering and Spring Training is right around the corner, fans are once again eager to watch this young, talented catcher get back on the field.

His return will be huge for the Giants' run production and will solidify the lineup.

Before he got hurt he was one of the hottest hitters on the team after struggling to begin the season. He got into a rhythm and it did not seem he was going to let up, batting .284 with 21 RBIs through 45 games. If he can do that consistently, that kind of production will surely help the Giants score more than they did last year.

Most know that Posey will in fact help the run production by himself, but he will help the rest of the lineup as well.

The main person he will help is Pablo Sandoval. Last season, when the Giants traded for Carlos Beltran, Sandoval’s production increased.

MLB.com analyst, Adam Berry, reported last year that “Sandoval attributed much of his improvement to Beltran.”

He hit .315 during the year, catching fire while Beltran was on the team. In September, the Panda hit .378 with seven home runs and 19 RBI.

Although Beltran is not returning, Posey will be batting behind the Kung Fu Panda and is just as good of a hitter as Beltran. He will give opposing pitchers another threat in the lineup other than the free swinging, powerful Sandoval and will help Panda get the pitches he can handle and put up another year of amazing numbers, if he remains in shape.

Having Posey behind Sandoval will help the run production tremendously. If Angel Pagan and Freddy Sanchez can get on base, pitchers will have a hard time choosing whom to pitch to, either Sandoval or Posey. They both will have many RBI opportunities and less pressure to deal with having another clutch bat in the lineup to help each other out.

Posey may be one piece to the puzzle, but he is a key piece. When he came up during the 2010 season, he sparked the lineup to produce more runs and lead the Giants to a World Series Championship. Now he is coming back in 2012 with a star-on-the-rise Sandoval, a young Brandon Belt, and the new offensive additions in Pagan and Melky Cabrera. These factors will yet again help ignite the horrid Giants' bats in 2012.

If he comes back in top shape, the Giants will be able give run support to the star-studded pitching staff and lead them into the postseason.