#1 Most Thankful: Buster Posey

Jun 21, 2013; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey (28) watches from the on deck circle in the fifth inning against the Miami Marlins at AT

It’s officially Thanksgiving time and we thought we’d kick off the holiday weekend by showing our gratitude for the Giants. The Giants have given us a lot to be thankful for over the past few seasons.  Over the weekend we’ll share our favorite 10  Giants and possibly some honorable mentions. So for all the times we whine and complain about the state of our team, let’s take some time to be thankful this offseason.

See the full list here: Top 10 Giants Most Thankful For This Year

Buster Posey

Was there really much question here? Who doesn’t love this guy (except reporters trying to get a non-boring quote out of him)? Posey didn’t have his best season, but he still was 2nd on the team in batting with a .294 average (behind Marco Scutaro with .297). I mean, anyone that complains about a nearly .300 batting average is crazy.

Buster Posey is the heart of this Giants team. He came in as a rookie and immediately earned the respect of his teammates and of baseball, earning his Rookie of the Year award. We won a World Championship that year too. In 2011, the unthinkable happened, and he had that collision at the plate with Scott Cousins, broke his ankle and had to set out most of the season. Amazingly though, in 2012, he bounced back, was MVP of the NL, Comeback Player of the Year, an All-Star, won a Silver Slugger Award, and oh yeah, ANOTHER World Championship. He took this Giants team from a 56 year drought to 2 Championships out of 3 years.

So he didn’t have his best year and we didn’t win a Championship last season…any other team in MLB would sell the farm to have Buster Posey on their team. He’s a catcher, he takes the most abuse of any player out there, and yet, he always grinds. You never see him with slumpy shoulders. You never see him getting into altercations with other players or the umpires. You never see him throw bats, punch gatorade jugs, or really show any kind of emotion at all unless he’s winning a championship of some kind. But he goes out there almost everyday, plays his game professionally, and gives the Giants a better chance to win than if he weren’t out there. So take your “he never did anything when it mattered” or “he’s slow” or whatever argument you have and shove it. You know he’s the best player on the team, and without him, we’d still be complaining about the Giants never winning a World Series.

He’s going to be a Giant until 2022. That makes me most thankful at all. I don’t care if he’s behind the plate, at 1B, at 3B, just having Buster Posey on our team and our bench, makes the Giants better. That’s why I’m most thankful for him.