Is Buster A Poser?: Should Fantasy Baseball Owners Sell Boster Posey

Eric StashinAug 4, 2010

Buster Posey has certainly made quite a splash since joining to Giants on May 29.

His presence helped usher Bengie Molina out of town and caused quite a stir among fantasy owners.

The big question, however, is whether this hot stretch is for real or just a mirage.

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Don’t get me wrong, Posey is every bit a must use fantasy option, but is he really “this” good (stats are through Monday):

203 at-bats
.350 batting average (71 Hits)
eight home runs
34 RBI
30 runs
0 stolen bases
.392 on-base percentage
.537 slugging percentage
.364 batting average on balls in play

The first number that jumps out at you is the batting average on balls in play.

It’s an extremely lucky number and one that you have to expect to come down, most likely sooner rather then later.

There are only eight players with enough at-bats to qualify that have BABIPs above .360 and none of them are catchers.

In fact, among the catchers with enough at-bats, only two are actually carrying a BABIP above: .300: Joe Mauer (.332) and Brian McCann (.307).

There is extreme wear and tear on a catcher unlike any other position. While Posey gets a game at first base, it still is eventually going to take its toll.

Even if we were to believe that he was capable of maintaining such a lofty BABIP, the position itself would likely drag him down. Combine those two things and it would appear almost certain that his stats would regress.

He should continue to hit for a strong average, because he does make good contact, but right now he’s showing an ability better than he did during his minor league career.

In the Major Leagues he’s posted a strikeout rate of 12.3 percent.

For his entire minor league career (631 at-bats) he was at 16.2 percent. At Triple-A prior to his recall (172 at-bat) he was at 17.4 percent.

Are we really to believe that he has been able to decrease his strikeouts by such an impressive amount?

It’s unlikely, so an increase in strikeouts will further decrease his average.

That’s not to say he doesn’t have a good eye at the plate, with a 13.4 percent walk rate in his minor league career (and just a 5.9 percent mark thus far).

Once he can improve that area, it will help his stats more, but it’s not going to make a huge difference.

You would think if he was chasing bad pitches he would be missing the ball more. Clearly that’s not happening, either.

I’m not going to say that he doesn’t have power, but he doesn’t put the ball in the air a significant amount (29.3 percent fly ball rate).

That’s similar to his career minor league mark of 31.1 percent (which led to just 25 home runs).

To get his eight home runs, he’s had a 15.1 percent home run to flyball ratio.

Is that a number we can expect him to maintain? Maybe, maybe not, especially with the grueling catcher’s schedule weighing on him.

It’s certainly possible that we see a bit of a falloff in the power department as well.

Again, don’t get me wrong, if you are in a keeper league, Posey is a great asset.

It’s in those yearly leagues that you may want to consider selling a bit high on him.

His value can only decrease from here, especially in the average department, so it’s worth investigating the possible return and cashing in while you can.

What are your thoughts on Posey? Do you think he will regress? How far may he fall?

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