Former FSU star Buster Posey makes it official, retires from baseball
One of the best athletes in Florida State history officially announced his retirement on Thursday afternoon.
Buster Posey, who won every conceivable national award during his junior year at FSU in 2008, said he has played his last Major League Baseball game for the San Francisco Giants.
And when he gives his Hall of Fame speech in Cooperstown a few years from now, there’s a good chance he will bring up the fateful conversation he had with Mike Martin Jr. during the fall of his sophomore year.
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When the then-FSU assistant coach suggested, because the Seminoles had a huge hole behind the plate, that Posey take a few pitches at catcher.
“Well, he puts on the gear, and he’s got his shin guard straps going the wrong way,” Martin Jr. remembered on Thursday. “So, I had to tell him how to put the shin guards on.”
Awkward beginnings aside, it didn’t take long to realize the former shortstop could be a defensive whiz at his new position.
“Five pitches in, it was a no-brainer,” said Martin Jr., who now is the Seminoles' head coach. “It was easy to tell he could do it. He had great hands. The technique, throwing to second and third was the same as turning a double-play at short. So, it wasn’t hard at all for us [to make that move].”
And over the next decade-and-a-half, all Posey did was become one of the best catchers who ever lived.
He finishes his MLB career with a .302 batting average, seven All-Star game appearances, four Silver Slugger awards, three world championships, a batting title, a Rookie of the Year award and a Most Valuable Player honor.
Posey also sustained a devastating leg injury in 2011, when he was run over in a play at the plate. And the physical toll of playing catcher undoubtedly made the decision to retire easier.
Looking on from afar, Martin Jr. says he couldn’t be prouder of his one-time star pupil.
Not just because Posey proved him right when he told MLB scouts that Posey would be Derek Jeter with the bat and Jason Varitek behind the plate. But because of the husband and father he’s become, and the great ambassador he has been for Florida State.
“It makes you feel like a proud parent,” Martin Jr. said. “It’s special. And it helps. People ask about him all the time — recruits, parents. And I tell them exactly the truth of how he was.
“He was more worried about others than himself. He made people feel good about themselves and included. He was just a great teammate.”
Martin Jr. said he hadn’t talked to Posey since news broke that he was going to retire, so he’s not sure what the future Hall-of-Famer plans to do now.
But if he still wants to stay in the game, maybe there’s a chance Posey comes back to his alma mater as a volunteer assistant? Maybe he wants to coach first base for the Seminoles?
“Ha,” Martin Jr. said with a laugh. “Can you imagine? Hey, it’s his if he wants it!”
Whatever the future holds, Posey left the game exactly the way most athletes hope to: On his own terms. He was the best hitting catcher in the National League in 2021, and he helped lead the Giants to the best record in baseball during the regular season.
Posey hit .305 as a rookie in 2010 and then finished with a .304 mark in 2021. Two incredible bookends to a storybook career.
“It just shows you what he’s all about,” Martin Jr. said. “The money’s great, but that’s not everything. He and (wife) Kristen are huge in their pediatric cancer foundation on the West Coast. And everything they go into, I know they do it right.
“So, he’s in a position to help people. And help kids. And I’m sure that’s what he’ll be doing. Well, that and hunting.”
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