Posey honored by players for comeback season with Giants

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Buster Posey's comeback season helped lead the Giants back to the postseason. It also caught the attention of his peers.

On Thursday afternoon, Posey was named the National League Comeback Player of the Year in Players Choice Awards voting. The award, voted on by his peers, recognizes Posey for being one of the game's best catchers a year after he opted out of the 2020 season. Posey also won the Sporting News' version of the award. Manager Gabe Kapler was named the Sporting News NL Manager of the Year and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi was picked as the outlet's MLB Executive of the Year. 

It was about 16 months ago that all three were on a Zoom call as Posey explained that he was opting out of the season to take care of twin girls he and his wife had adopted. The Giants 100 percent supported the decision and welcomed him back with open arms in February, and Posey returned as one of the National League's better players. 

"Any time you're recognized by your peers it's special," Posey said in video put out by the MLBPA. "I feel fortunate to be surrounded by a great group of teammates and a coaching staff that put me in a position to have a good year."

Posey batted .304 with 18 homers, his most since 2015. Among NL catchers who played at least 100 games, he was first in average, on-base percentage (.390) and slugging percentage (.499). Posey was worth 4.9 Wins Above Replacement, per FanGraphs, marking his best season since 2016. 

Posey was named MLB's Comeback Player of the Year in 2012 after returning from a devastating leg injury to win NL MVP honors. For this Players Choice version, he beat out Cincinnati's Joey Votto and teammate Brandon Crawford, who could be a finalist for NL MVP and on Thursday was named a finalist for what would be his fourth Gold Glove Award.

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Posey and Crawford helped lead the team built by Zaidi and managed by Kapler to 107 wins and into the postseason for the first time in five years. While the Giants lost to the Dodgers in the NLDS, Posey said even that was something he'll always remember as a big moment in his career. 

"Very special. I was hopeful at some point in my career I was going to get the chance to play the Dodgers in the playoffs," Posey said after Game 5. "I was excited about that. It came down to the final game, a 2-1 game. You hope to come out on the other side of it but it was a well-played series and I don't think anybody on our side is going to have any regrets."

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