Buster Posey Honored As Top Minor Leaguer

SAN JOSE, CA- Buster Posey has been named the winner of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award as the Topps Minor League Player of the Year for 2009. Posey played for the San Jose Giants and Fresno Grizzlies this season before debuting in the major leagues with San Francisco last September. The Topps Company of New York in conjunction with Minor League Baseball gives the award, named after J.G. Taylor Spink, the publisher of The Sporting News from 1914 to 1962.

Posey hit a combined .325 with 18 home runs and 80 RBI's in 115 Minor League games this season. The Tallahassee, Florida native also collected 31 doubles and scored 84 runs while finishing with a .416 on-base percentage. 2009 marked his first full professional season after the San Francisco Giants selected Posey with the fifth overall pick in the 2008 draft.

Posey began the 2009 campaign in San Jose and played a leading role in the Giants run to the first half Northern Division title. In 80 games with San Jose, Posey batted .326 with 23 doubles, 13 home runs and 58 RBI's. Posey was among the league leaders in batting average and on-base percentage (.428) at the time of his promotion to Fresno while he also threw out a remarkable 49% of attempted base stealers. The Giants posted a 46-19 record in games that Posey started behind the plate.

Posey supplied one of the most memorable moments of the season for the Giants when he connected for a game-winning home run in the bottom of the 13th inning on June 5 versus the Bakersfield Blaze. Posey also led San Jose with a .368 batting average with runners in scoring position. For his efforts, Posey was the starting catcher for the California League in their annual All-Star game against the Carolina League last June in Lake Elsinore.

The top prospect was assigned to San Francisco's Triple-A affiliate on July 14 where he continued his banner season. With the Grizzlies, Posey hit at a .321 clip in 35 games. He finished with eight doubles, five home runs and 22 RBI's.

"There are very few players that you'll ever see make that jump so fast and have so much success doing it," said San Jose manager Andy Skeels. "He dominated the Cal League and then goes to Triple-A and winds up hitting .300 over there. Buster has got all of the things that are necessary to become a quality major league player. He's a very smart kid and obviously talented."

Posey was promoted to San Francisco on September 2 and made his major league debut nine days later. He recorded his first big league hit in his second game as a pinch-hitter on September 19 at Los Angeles. Overall, Posey appeared in seven games with the Giants and was 2-for-17. He is currently playing for the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League.

Other Spink Award winners include: Derek Jeter (1994), Johnny Damon (1995), Andruw Jones (1996), Eric Chavez (1999), Josh Beckett (2001) and Delmon Young (2005). Mat Gamel of the Milwaukee Brewers won the award last year.