May 12, 2008

Derek Redd, Osceola

Florida State junior Buster Posey was all over Mike Martin Field on Monday afternoon ? literally.

Posey played all nine positions in a seven-inning 10-0 win over Savannah State.

"One of the finest athletes in the history of Florida State baseball," FSU coach Mike Martin Sr. said after the game.

The last time a Seminole baseball player played all nine positions was 1994, when Mike Martin Jr. had the honor. Actually, it was Martin Jr. who approached Posey during the Clemson series and broached the topic of playing all nine.

"I didn't have a whole lot of time to think about it," he said. "It's nice. It'll be something I can look back on down the road and remember."

Posey started at catcher, where he was a Johnny Bench Award finalist last season, in the first inning. He moved to first base in the second, second base in the third, shortstop in the fourth, third base in the fifth, left field and center field in the sixth and struck out two batters in the seventh before moving to right field for the final out.

He wore four gloves during his trip around the field ? a catcher's mitt, a first baseman's mitt, a middle infielder's glove and his pitcher's glove on the mound and in the outfield.

The only time the Seminoles plan might have been foiled, Martin said, was when a sixth-inning double play made Martin juggle some things.

"That's what I said on a number of occasions: the only way it can be messed up is if we got him in the outfield and someone gets into a double play," he said. "I said, well, we'll just let him pitch to two hitters and if he gets both of them out, we'll put him in right field to finish it."

Posey pretty much finished off Savannah State in the second inning with his biggest contribution of the game, a grand slam home run that gave FSU a six-run lead. It was his 16th homer of the season, which leads the ACC.

"I just went up there thinking I'd probably get something off-speed on the first pitch," Posey said. "That's what I got and I put a good swing on it and it carried for me."

Posey led the conference in a few offensive categories entering Monday's game, including hits, runs scored, total bases, slugging percentage and on base percentage.

Martin said it was evidence that Posey is the best player in college baseball.

"I think Buster Posey is very deserving of player of the year," he said, "but that's not even on his mind right now, and it's not really on my mind to tell you the truth."

Another thought never entered Martin's mind during Monday's game ? that he'd have to worry about Posey defensively at any position.

"We've had a lot of great players, but they just were not talented enough to play all nine," Martin said. "I'll be honest with you; I was never concerned with wherever he was. I was never concerned with the ball being hit to him."

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