Buster Posey is heading into 2012 with a new job description. As an MLB catcher, it was once Posey’s job to block the plate if it was the only way he could make an out on a tag play at home. After suffering a gruesome injury by blocking the plate last season, Giants manager Bruce Bochy has ordered his star catcher to find other ways to apply the tag this season.
“I don’t want him blocking the plate right now,” Bochy said Sunday according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “I’ve already talked to Buster about this. There are ways you can make the tag without blocking the plate. I’ll take it out of Buster’s hands. As a manager, that’s my job. I certainly don’t want people to think he’s backing off on his own. It’s something we’ll work on him with this spring.”
If you ask Buster, however, he will tell you that blocking the plate wasn’t what got him hurt last season. While he says he accepts the fact that Marlins outfielder Scott Cousins has apologized for the play, he is still not speaking to him.
“I want to make it clear I wasn’t blocking the plate in the first place,” Posey insisted.
Posey is a competitor, so something tells me if the game is on the line and he thinks he has to block the plate to save it, he’s going to do what his catching instincts tell him to do. That being said, I certainly understand Bochy’s concern.
