Giants announcer Mike Krukow doesn't think much of Buster Posey's defense behind the plate
Aug 20, 2010, 11:47 AM EDT
Buster Posey is having an amazing rookie season at the plate, hitting .341/.388/.519 with nine homers, 26 total extra-base hits, and 45 RBIs in 71 games, but Giants announcer (and longtime big-league pitcher) Mike Krukow hasn’t been very impressed with the 23-year-old’s work behind the plate.
During a game earlier this week reliever Jeremy Affeldt allowed a Raul Ibanez triple and Krukow opined on the air that “Posey tipped that pitch.” Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle later asked him to expand on the comment and here’s what Krukow told him:
What happened there, it was a 3-2 count, and Posey shook his head as Affeldt looked in for the sign. When a catcher does that, he’s not shaking off a pitch. He just wants to have the pitcher shake his head, like he’s going to get inside the hitter’s head. Well, 99 times out of 100, a fastball is coming. We [in the broadcast booth] figured Utley relayed the pitch to Ibanez. He’d been late on Affeldt’s fastball the whole at-bat, but he jumped all over that one.
What ticks me off, this stuff may work in high school, but never up here. I’m not trying to single out Posey at all. You see this all over the big leagues. I see guys that are just outright cartoons back there. It’s an aspect of the catching position that has eroded over the years, and it’s costly.
Krukow also laid out another situation where Posey made a mistake by “slapping the ground with his glove before a pitch, indicating he wanted something down low in the dirt”:
Now, why would you do that? Now you’re tipping off the curveball. You never ask for a fastball in the dirt, and nobody asks for a curveball around the shoulders. It’s just like when a catcher raises up his glove for the elevator fastball at the shoulders. You never signal a high target for a breaking ball, so the hitter knows a fastball’s coming there. This is stuff that can easily be picked up not only by the runner, but by the first- or third-base coach.
Krukow is one of my favorite announcers and I have no doubt the issues he brings up are accurate, but I’m also not sure they’ve really mattered all that much. Giants pitchers have a 3.79 ERA with Posey behind the plate, compared to 3.53 overall. Sure, maybe the mistakes that Krukow points out are to blame for a 0.26-run difference, but 0.26 runs is also well within the range of “random” and very dependent on which pitchers he’s caught. And a 3.79 ERA is still pretty damn good.
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- BC - Aug 20, 2010 at 12:08 PM
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Krukow should put a sock in it.
I’ve hated that guy forever. He was like 166-3 against the Mets.
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- bofarr - Aug 20, 2010 at 12:27 PM
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I have to agree that Posey is a work in progress behind the plate. I’ve seen him miss a few wild pitches where he went to the backhand instead of moving his body to block. This might be because he was originally an infielder but it’s still poor technique that can be corrected. On the other hand is kind of harsh for a home announcer to throw a rookie under the bus; I’m sure Giants management was thrilled.
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- RickyB - Aug 20, 2010 at 12:50 PM
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Posey isn’t the only catcher in the bigs to do those things. Jorge Posada will plop his glove on the ground or show it up high early if that’s where he wants it (not that judging good defense on how Posada does it is a good indicator). But there are more than just a handful that do the exact same thing. I also can understand Krukow’s point. Even if the offense isn’t relaying location and/or pitch type, the mere appearance of that occurring could very well damage the psyche of all the paranoid pitchers out there.
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- walk - Aug 20, 2010 at 1:35 PM
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I have seen buster turn sideways when crossed up and on foul balls. It seems like he is afraid of the ball some times, but turning sideways exposes his ribs and brings his protective gear out of position. I always figured it was just a flinch type of reaction he should have gotten over by now but hopefully he will soon.
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- Steve C - Aug 20, 2010 at 1:45 PM
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I would love to see the catcher tip the pitches for Wakefield or Dickey. Be as obvious as possible too, call for a knuckle ball in the dirt. A knuckle ball up and in. I’m pretty sure those guys just aim right down the middle and where ever it goes it goes.
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- FlyEaglesFly - Aug 20, 2010 at 1:56 PM
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This is dumb just like the Phillies stealing signs. He how does a hitter know they aren’t playing him by doing it. That’s why you switch things up like call and inside fastball and pat the ground as if you called a curve ball. Ibanez didn’t know a fastball was coming he was just sitting on a fastball with a 3-2 count.
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- Benny Blanco - Aug 20, 2010 at 2:27 PM
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If he keeps hitting like this, I doubt anyone will care.
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- Spudchukar - Aug 20, 2010 at 3:10 PM
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Mike Krukow has always been a bright guy. As a pitcher he had OK stuff, but got by on guile, location and guts. So he knows what he is talking about. However, Yadier Molina, generally considered to be the best defensive catcher in the game, and also a bright baseball guy continues to do the exact things that Krukow criticizes Posey for doing. Should Molina stop tipping his intent. Maybe. But maybe most pitchers are dumber than posts and need constant reminders to keep the breaking ball in the dirt etc. Carpenter and Wainwright are two of the brightest pitchers around and they neither seem to mind the reminders, nor does it seem to adversely affect their success.
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- APBA Guy - Aug 20, 2010 at 3:25 PM
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I thought Krukow was on target with his comments, as this was one of the few Gigantes moments I was watching this year. The sense I got was that he wants Posey to be as good as he can be, not just second-best behind the plate. And it wasn’t that long ago that the Giants had Mike Matheny, one of the best catchers of the last 20 years, so the contrast is obvious.
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- Kip - Aug 20, 2010 at 9:17 PM
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When Mike Krukow talks baseball players should listen. He knows what he’s talking about.
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- dickied66 - Aug 21, 2010 at 1:31 AM
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Krukow does not know the difference between a mitt and a glove, Catchers and first basemen use mitts. He is a good announcer but not great. Posey is the best Giants rookie since 1959 for gosh sakes. Whoo woo!
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- bill - Aug 29, 2010 at 5:34 PM
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Sorry, but that’s a crappy headline. Krukow may have issues with a couple of things Posey does, but believe me, Mike Krukow is a big fan of Buster Posey, both as a hitter and as a receiver. To say that Krukow “doesn’t think much” of Posey’s defense is blatantly misleading and flat wrong.
