How Jorge was almost a Jay
ByWhere would the Yankees be right now without Jorge Posada? He’s been among the top catchers in the league since 1998. Back then Pudge and Piazza were the best. Now it’s Mauer. Posada’s always played second fiddle, but that’s just fine by him and the Yanks. To have a catcher who hits so well, for such a long period of time, is all the Yankees could have asked for when they selected Posada in the 24th round of the 1990 draft.
Apparently, the Jays had just as good a shot at him, according to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun. Jorge’s father was a scout with the Jays, and the team “helped place his son at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Ala.” Yet they did not draft him. Not in 1989, and not in 1990. The Yankees jumped in, and that was that. Twenty years later, the Jays can’t really rue the decision — who knows if he was anywhere near their draft boards. Still, one can only imagine how history would have played out had the Blue Jays drafted their scout’s son.
Probably wouldn’t have moved him to catcher, either
Yeah, he was drafted as a 2B IIRC. Though that bat of his would play very nicely as a 2B as well.
I guess we can also wonder if he the situation would have arose where he broke his leg, which prompted the move to C.
Check that, he broke his leg AS a Catcher. My bad.
Though that bat of his would play very nicely as a 2B as well.
What was his defensive reputation at 2B, though? Could he have stuck there, or would he have had to move?
Will two more seasons of Posada-like production from Posada earn him a place in the hall of fame? Consistency is key.
Two more seasons at the same level would earn him another contract, which is mind boggling since he’s already past his expiration date as a Catcher at 38 years old.
i think it will, but a long ways down the road.
if he plays another 4 years (made that up), then has a 5 year waiting period, and hangs on the ballot 5 years….that’s about 15 years in the future.
i have to think BY THEN there will be enough voters who can properly contextualize his offensive numbers as a catcher, and his OBP will carry him in despite the low counting stats.
also, he has an outside shot at 300 HRs. i think if does that, even if the last 40 are hit as a DH, he gets in.
dude has a career .860 OPS…as a catcher. he’s awesome and probable the most underrated Yankee in history (with apologies to Bernie Williams).
He is, however, not as FEARed as Bernie was. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068576/
Compare Posada’s production with Carlton Fisk’s production through his age 37 season. Posada has a slight advantage in slash stats and OPS+, and a BIG advantage in walks, even though he has more than a full season fewer ABs than Fisk. Fisk’s advantages in some of the counting stats can be attributed to his earlier start…though his lead isn’t big in these (i.e. HRs), and Posada has more RBIs.
Now granted, Fisk had eight more years, a few of which were very productive; but Posada is giving no sign of slowing down.
If Posada were calling the games, Halladay would suck. OH SNAP
IETC.
On a side note, take a look at how good that 1990 draft was. That year the Yankees managed to get a borderline hall-of-fame catcher, a great left-handed starter (Pettitte), an all-star outfielder (Carl Everett), two solid fourth outfielders (Ricky Ledee and Shane Spencer), and a replacement level major league reliever (John Wasdin). Whoever was in charge of the draft that year did a stellar job.