San Francisco Giants: Future of Catcher Position and Aramis Garcia

With the future of Buster Posey as the San Francisco Giants catcher being a little uncertain, we look at what that might mean for Aramis Garcia going forward.

The future of the catcher position for the San Francisco Giants is a bit uncertain at the moment, but it appears they have some great options.

When Posey injured his hip at the end of August, it was determined that he could be out for 6-8 months. At best he could be back by the middle of spring training, and at worst he could miss the start of the 2019 season.

Either way, a catcher with bad hips is not ideal.

I love Posey as much as the next person, but you can’t do anything about getting older. We need Posey’s bat in the lineup more than his defense. It’s time for the San Francisco Giants to move on from Belt and make Posey their primary first baseman.

Or, and don’t freak out, the San Francisco Giants have to explore trading Posey. There were rumors that the Braves inquired about Posey during the season, but who knows to what level of interest the Giants had in moving their star.

It would be much easier to move the contract of Posey compared to Belt.

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But anyway, this article is about the future of Garcia.

In a small sample size to end the season he has shown that he can hold his own at the major league level. He’s hit .302 in 53 at-bats with 4 home runs.

The second round pick in the 2014 draft actually struggled a bit in the minors this year hitting .233 with 11 home runs at Double-A before moving up to Triple-A for 38 at-bats where he hit .237 with zero home runs.

Hopefully, we get two see at least eight more at-bats from Garcia over the weekend, but I still think we need a larger sample size at the major league level to determine whether or not he can become a full-time catcher.

You have to keep in mind that Joey Bart is on his way, and being an accomplished college player, it might not take him long to move through the system.

In my own opinion, I think Garcia’s future is as a very solid back-up catcher. There is even a good chance Garcia moves from behind the plate where he can focus more on being a good hitter as his bat is his best tool.

The bottom line is, the San Francisco Giants are in a much better position at catcher than most teams. But what happens over the next 6-8 months will go a long way in determining the future of that position.