SF Giants' Posey "humbled" by Rookie honor
Giants Buster Posey parades around the field waving to fans following San Francisco's win of the 2010 World Series over the Texas Rangers.
(11-15) 13:15 PST -- Buster Posey now has a pretty trophy to display alongside his World Series championship ring. The inscription reads, "2010 National League Rookie of the Year."
Posey handily defeated Atlanta right fielder Jason Heyward in balloting by 32 members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, who picked the Giants catcher out of a strong rookie crop even though he did not reach the majors until May 29. Nine different rookies received votes.
"I'm extremely excited, happy and humbled to win this honor with all talent in NL this year," Posey said Monday as he and his wife were traveling to the Florida Keys for a vacation. "That makes it more special."
Posey became the sixth Giant and first in 35 years to win the award since it was established in 1947. He joined Willie Mays (1951), Orlando Cepeda (1958), Willie McCovey (1959), Gary Matthews (1973) and John Montefusco (1975).
"It gives me chills to be mentioned with those guys who have won the same award, to be one of the few Giants to win the award," Posey said. "Those guys were unbelievable players and great ambassadors to the game and still are."
Texas closer Neftali Perez won the American League award.
Posey earned 20 first-place votes as writers ranked their three top choices. Heyward won nine first-place votes. One went to third-place finisher Jaime Garcia of St. Louis and two to Florida's Gaby Sanchez, who was fourth.
Posey and Heyward each was left off one ballot.
Yasushi Kikuchi, who covers the Dodgers for Japan's Kyodo News Service, did not vote for Posey, instead naming Sanchez, Heyward and Garcia on his ballot. Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette did not vote for Heyward. He had Posey first and gave the other votes to two Pirates, Neil Walker and Jose Tabata.
Writers submitted their ballots before the postseason began.
Posey spent almost two months at Triple-A Fresno before he was promoted to play first base and inject life into a struggling offense. He took off after the Giants traded Bengie Molina to Texas on July 1 and installed the rookie as their everyday catcher.
Posey hit .417 with a 1.165 OPS in July to win National League Player of the Month and help the Giants go 20-8. For the season he batted .305 with 18 homers and 67 RBIs, reached base 35.7 percent of the time and slugged .505.
Kikuchi said he left Posey off his ballot because of the late-May promotion.
"Obviously it was a tough decision," Kikuchi said. "To me, Rookie of the Year is the best rookie player throughout the whole season. On the other hand, I know Buster had a very big impact for the Giants. I know how important his role was to contribute to the Giants winning the championship."
Twenty writers who gave Posey their first-place votes had no issue with the length of his season. Among them was ESPN.com columnist Jayson Stark.
"From the day he showed up in the big leagues," Stark said of Posey, "the only players in the National League who had as good a batting average and slugging percentage were Albert Pujols, Joey Votto, Matt Holliday, Carlos Gonzalez and Adrian Gonzalez. Ever heard of those guys? I have. And if Buster Posey was in that kind of company for more than four months, that's what Rookies of the Year are made of."
Heyward was considered the front-runner from the moment he hit a three-run homer against Chicago's Carlos Zambrano in his first big-league at-bat April 5. He came to the plate 623 times, hit .277 with 18 homers and 72 RBIs and had a much better on-base percentage (.393) than Posey.
However, many influential voices, particularly those who write for national Internet sites, argued late in the season that Posey deserved a heap of credit for catching one of the majors' best pitching staffs.
Posey's defense, cited by the Giants as the reason he needed more time in the minors, became a strength, and the staff praised his work repeatedly down the stretch and during the postseason.
Posey's plans to improve his defense begin in the weight room next week. He said he will try to make his hips more flexible so he can block balls in the dirt better.
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