Several reports surfaced this past weekend that Jorge Posada is going to retire in the next few weeks. Selfishly, I’m happy that I don’t have to see him hang on with another team. He is a Yankee and always will be. When I think back to the Yankee teams of my youth, he’ll be the catcher that I picture.
It’s no secret that he was an offensive catcher. His defense was average at best in his prime. Many pitchers didn’t like pitching to him. He did catch David Wells’ perfect game, which I’m sure any catcher appreciates. He made some great plays on the big stage as well. The last few years, he certainly was less than adequate behind the plate, but the Yanks won the 2009 World Series with him as their primary catcher. He couldn’t have been that bad.
Jorge will be known for his bat, and whether you agree with it or not, he’ll garner Hall of Fame consideration. I do not think he will or should get in, but if you put his offensive numbers against many of the best catchers to have played the game, he stacks up. For instance, he is one of 8 players who played at least 50% of games at catcher and had 1,500 hits, 250 HR and 1,000 RBI. The others are Yogi Berra, Johnny Bench, Gary Carter, Carlton Fisk, Lance Parrish, Mike Piazza, Ivan Rodriguez. There are a few Hall of Famers in that group. He has the fifth highest OPS for a catcher behind only Mike Piazza, Mickey Cochrane, Bill Dickey and Gabby Hartnett. That’s three HOFers and one future Hall of Famer.
He'll almost certainly fall short in his quest for Cooperstown, but four rings, five All-Star appearances, five Silver Sluggers, a top 3 MVP finish and a triple slash of .273/.374/.474 as a catcher should get him a decent amount of votes.
To me Jorge Posada will always be my favorite Yankees player of all time. He's also the first Yankees player I ever got in a pack of baseball cards too...
ReplyDeleteI agree completely! Gonna miss Jorge a lot though, I grew up with him and the other 3 guys in the Core 4 so whenever we lose one of them it's hard to see.
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