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Just how good is Buster Posey?

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — We thought this would be the postseason of Mike Trout or Bryce Harper or Yasiel Puig. Some of baseball’s most electrifying young talents entered the playoffs on some of the game’s best clubs, provoking widespread speculation that one would seize his October spotlight and emerge as the sport’s new Most Famous Guy to replace the retiring Derek Jeter.

Didn’t happen. But look here: The Giants have a young star who’s already got a Rookie of the Year award and an MVP trophy in his closet, a guy who happens to be three wins away from earning his third championship ring as the 2014 World Series heads to San Francisco for Game 3 on Friday.

Catcher Buster Posey is the best player left standing this postseason, one of the best all-around stars in the game, and one of the greatest hitters of all time at his position.

About that: By the park- and league-adjusted stat OPS+, Posey actually ranks No. 1 all-time among all players who spent more than 50 percent of their games behind the plate. Because he is only five years deep into his career and has not yet endured a decline phase, it’s not fair to say he’s a better hitter than Mike Piazza. But he ranks second only to Piazza among all catchers through age 27 in the same stat.

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

The offensive numbers might not surprise you: He is, after all, the best hitter on a World Series team, a strong and patient right-handed batter who makes frequent contact and sprays line drives to all fields. But that’s only half the story. Posey stands as his team’s best offensive player despite playing the game’s most physically demanding positions. Take it away, Hunter Pence:

“You try to compare Buster Posey to, say, an outfielder, and you’re comparing offensive production,” Pence said. “But you can’t really compare the whole thing because of how he is behind the plate.

“How valuable has he been? I mean, he’s invaluable. I think that’s the right word. There’s so much that a catcher has to do as far as working with each and every pitcher, everyone’s personality, game plans, the other team’s hitters, reading their hitters, reading the defenses. And on top of that he’s hitting at one of the highest levels you can possibly hit at.”

Though it’s nearly impossible to pare all the variables, there exists anecdotal evidence to suggest players hit better when they’re moved out from behind the plate. A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson blossomed into a star after five minor league seasons wearing the so-called tools of ignorance. Tigers slugger Victor Martinez has hit better as a designated hitter in his mid-30s than he did as a catcher in his prime years.

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

That makes sense: Baseball’s 162-game schedule and near-constant travel are plenty to exhaust any normal human. But imagine doing 200 body-weight squats then trying to hit a 98-mph fastball. And then imagine doing it again the next day. And that’s not to mention the beating catchers take on errant pitches, foul tips and backswings.

“I like baseball,” Posey said. “I think that’s the main thing. I enjoy playing the game.”

Posey gets a chance to spell his legs by playing first base about once a week, but he has been behind the plate for at least 110 games in each of the past three seasons. He has caught every inning of the Giants’ postseason run this season, including all 18 in Game 2 of the NLDS against Washington.

Evaluating catchers can flummox even baseball’s most dedicated statisticians, especially as more efforts are made to quantify defense at every position. By its very nature, playing behind the plate requires a nebulous set of skills that are frequently discussed but impossible to measure, like calling pitches and negotiating a pitching staff’s various personalities.

“He’ll come out between innings, and he’ll talk to us in the dugout,” said pitcher Matt Cain. “If stuff is not working that day, he’ll tell you. He’s brutally honest, which can be bad. But I think that’s what we need. Sometimes you get a little bit in your own way, and you might think a pitch looks really good or was really good, and it didn’t turn out that way. He’s that instant feedback for you.”

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

By nearly every metric that exists to try to measure catchers defensively, Posey looks good. He throws out baserunners at an above-average rate, like he did Alcides Escobar in the first inning of Wednesday’s game. He ranks among the game’s best at blocking potential wild pitches. And in pitch framing, a widely underdiscussed but massively valuable aspect of the game, Posey finished sixth among all Major League catchers in 2014 by Statcorner.com’s estimation.

“He has always had a real good arm,” said shortstop Brandon Crawford. “I think he has gotten a lot better blocking balls and getting rid of the ball.”

“The catching part gets lost in the shadows a little bit, just because there’s so much more to talk about on his offensive side,” pitcher Tim Lincecum said. “But it doesn’t take away from the fact he’s a great catcher.”

For a guy who says he enjoys playing baseball, Posey projects an unflappable on-field demeanor. He believes keeping his emotions in check helps him through the long season.

“I think it’s who I am,” he said. “My dad was probably the first to tell me — I remember pitching when I was 7 or 8, and he told me he didn’t want the other team to know whether I was having a great game or a bad game. And that’s something that always stuck with me. I think that type of attitude or personality — whatever you want to call it — does well for this sport, when we play so many games like we do.”

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

“When he’s on the field, it’s all business,” said Lincecum. “But he’ll break. There are opportunities to show his humorous side, and he can be pretty dry-humored.”

Asked if he ever took out any hostility on a postgame food spread, Posey joked, “I stay away from the buffet table. I go to the trainer’s room for that.”

So Posey, steady in his disposition and his excellence, does not exactly grab fan and media attention the divisive, emotional, swaggering young stars like Puig and Harper do. And so he’s not Mike Trout, because only one man in the world is Mike Trout.

So what? The Giants’ catcher almost flies under the radar, despite his accolades, because in only five big-league seasons he has established himself as a constant on the Giants’ perennial winners, a dependable and consistent star on both sides of the ball. And the Jeter comparisons that will inevitably come in droves if Posey secures his third World Series ring this season, might actually sell him short.

Posey plays the sport’s most rigorous position and plays it well, and it does not prevent him from producing like an elite, middle-of-the-order hitter in a way Jeter never really did. And at a time when baseball analysts find increasingly thorough ways to assess players, Posey, because of his unique collection of talents, still manages to defy the sport’s most comprehensive metrics to some extent.

How good is he? Extremely, even if it’s impossible to find a way to measure the full breadth of his impact on his team. But the point of baseball is winning, and Posey has already been the best player on two championship teams and now heads to San Francisco three wins shy of doing it again. And he’s still got most of his career ahead of him.

He’s off to a really good start.

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