Giants catcher Buster Posey has taken another nasty foul tip off
his mask, further heightening fears that he is compromising not
only his offensive potential but his long-term health by playing
such a demanding, dangerous position. Posey waves off the
doomsayers, however, saying he believes that he’s just hit a patch
of bad luck in recent weeks, a painful fact of life when you don
the tools of ignorance for a living.
SAN FRANCISCO
Giants catcher Buster Posey has taken another nasty foul tip off his mask, further heightening fears that he is compromising not only his offensive potential but his long-term health by playing such a demanding, dangerous position.
Posey waves off the doomsayers, however, saying he believes that he’s just hit a patch of bad luck in recent weeks, a painful fact of life when you don the tools of ignorance for a living.
Follow Free Lance Sports on Twitter.
“Since I have been catching, it seems like you kind of go through periods where you just get beat up a little bit,” Posey said. “And then there are periods where you don’t get beat up at all. It’s just one of those things that you go through.”
Posey took two foul balls of his mask in a game against Arizona on May 11 that had potential concussive implications, though it was deemed he didn’t suffer a concussion. After a day’s rest, he was back behind the plate.
But a few days later, he took another stinging foul off his upper thigh, and he has generally taken more than his share of dings in 2011, including two to his throwing shoulder.
“He’s taken more than I’ve ever seen,” said manager Bruce Bochy, a catcher himself during his playing days with the Astros, Mets and Padres. “He’s getting enough shots that are hitting him pretty good that I’ve got concern.”
Bochy doesn’t necessarily think it’s just a spate of bad luck. He has a theory that because the Giants’ pitching staff has a number of guys who cause opposing hitters to swing and miss, Posey gets hit with more foul tips than other catchers around the league.
Posey sees that as a rational explanation. The question is what can be done about it.
In Sunday’s game against the A’s, a shot in the second inning caromed off Posey’s mask in his jaw area. He looked like he’d just taken a flush left hook from Manny Pacquiao. He sat in his squat position for a couple minutes while Bochy and trainer Dave Groeschner attended to him. But Posey stayed in the game and singled in his next at-bat, extending his hitting streak to 11 games.
“I don’t know what happened; I just had a lot of pain for a few minutes and it’s gone now,” Posey said after the Giants’ 5-4 victory. “It was just the jaw. My head never felt anything. I don’t think I would have stayed in if I’d felt anything in my head.”
The Giants are particularly sensitive to such injuries after a series of foul tips in 2006 effectively ended the career of Gold Glove catcher Mike Matheny after he signed with the team as a free agent in 2005. Post-concussion symptoms prompted Matheny to retire before the 2007 season.
But even if the Giants wanted to move Posey from behind the plate — and they’ve shown no indication that’s in their plans — finding a spot for him would be problematic. First base is manned by veteran Aubrey Huff, with top prospect Brandon Belt ready to replace him.
Third base? Pablo Sandoval figures to be there for years. Posey played shortstop in college but probably doesn’t have the range to play it in the majors.
So how do the Giants protect their most prized position player? Good question, but Bochy said experimenting with the conventional catcher’s mask as opposed to the baseball-modified hockey goaltender type mask that Posey wears might be worth exploring.
“He’s never worn the other mask, and I was talking to him during the course of the game, that maybe in spring training we can make that transition,” Bochy said.
There is much debate, however, whether the conventional mask would offer any more protection than the helmet mask.
“I think more than anything, it’s just the feel of it,” Bochy said. “The hockey mask clings a little bit closer and there’s probably a little more sense of security with the protection on the side. If you’re not used to it, there’s a transition to a different mask.”
Posey said if the foul-tip problem persists, he’s willing to give it a whirl.
“Everything trainers and doctors have told me is that shock absorption is equal on both styles of masks,” he said. “I’d be open to it, but I think it’d be something I’d wait to do until next spring training.”
In the meantime, he and those who fret about him will just have to hope his luck improves.
— Story by Carl Steward, The Oakland Tribune
