Jorge Posada is an all-time Yankee; Where is he now?
NEW YORK (BVM) –While the New York Yankees are the epitome of baseball glory, there are some aspects of the organization that have gone under the radar. The most glaring one is their ability to develop catchers.
It began with 11-time All-star Bill Dickey. In 1947, they replaced him with a three-time MVP in Yogi Berra. A few years after Berra retired, a homegrown catching prospect would make their debut in 1969.
That prospect was Thurman Munson, who became a seven-time All-Star.
It took a couple of decades for the Yankees to get another premier backstop, but Jorge Posada definitely fit that billing.
Before the Yankees
Posada grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico. When Posada decided to go the university route following high school, his SAT scores were unfortunately too low to attend a four-year college. However, Calhoun Community College decided to take a chance on the young Puerto Rican catcher.
Little did they know, he would become the best player in school history.
Posada made the all-conference team and would later get his No. 6 retired by the school. In 2006, he was inducted into the Alabama Community College Athletic Hall of Fame.
MLB career
In the 1990 MLB Draft, the Yankees selected Posada as a second baseman with their 24th round pick, giving him a $30,000 signing bonus.
During his second minor league season, New York decided to move him behind the plate. With the combination of adjusting to his new position and missing a chunk of playing time due to a broken leg, Posada did not make it to the major leagues until he was 24 years old in 1995.
He got into one game that season but did not have a plate appearance.
The following year, he appeared in eight games, collecting 15 plate appearances.
It was not until 1997 that Posada was able to stick on the big league roster. That season he served as the backup to Joe Girardi. He finished the year with a .250 batting average and a .768 OPS.
The following year Posada began to find his groove. He hit .268 that year while slugging at a .475 clip. With Girardi still on the roster, the Yankees began to split them into a platoon, with Posada getting more of the playing time.
When Girardi’s contract was up after the 1999 season, the organization decided to give Posada his first full-time gig as a 29-year-old. The Yankees could not have made a better decision.
Posada hit .287 while slugging .943. He would make the All-Star team that season and also take home a Silver Slugger award. The Yankees would win the World Series that season against the Mets.
This would be just the beginning of a great stretch of seasons for Posada. He won four consecutive Silver Sluggers and made four All-Star appearances. This run was capped off by a third-place finish for the AL MVP in 2003.
Jorge Posada’s clutch hit vs the Red Sox to tie up game seven of the ALCS in 2003. My favorite moment of his. pic.twitter.com/WUJ7jfw4JI
— Julian Guilarte (@JulianGuilarte1) December 21, 2021
Posada was not an All-Star from 2004-06, but now with advanced analytics getting more and more popular, maybe he should have been.
In both 2004 and 2006, he finished with an OPS over .850. If a player put up those types of numbers in today’s game, the chances of him not making the All-Star team would be very low.
May 16, 2006
Jorge Posada walks it off vs. Texas, and the Yankees win 14-13 after being down 9-0 pic.twitter.com/h5HWEKVoAD— NY Yankees Throwbacks (@yankeethrowback) April 25, 2022
Nonetheless, Posada put up the best numbers of his career in 2007. He hit .338 that season while also slugging at a .543 clip. He also had 90 RBIs and 42 doubles. Posada would make his fifth and final All-Star appearance and finished sixth in the MVP voting.
Posada continued to be a productive player throughout the remainder of his career.
He did however struggle in his final season in 2011, hitting .235. But that did not stop Posada from performing that postseason.
He finished his career strong with a .579 on-base percentage in the ALDS, before being eliminated by the Tigers.
At the end of his career, outside of his five silver sluggers, Posada also had four World Series Championships on his resume.
Four years after his retirement, the Yankees retired Posada’s No. 20.
Trade speculation
While Posada undoubtedly finished his career as a Yankee legend, there were a handful of times that the catcher was almost dealt.
Before he was called up to the major leagues, the New York Times had reported on multiple occasions that Posada’s name was mentioned in trade talks.
The first being in a potential package for Tino Martinez and then again in a possible deal that would have sent both Posada and Mariano Rivera to Cincinnati for David Wells.
Even after Posada had come up, he was almost traded again to Montreal along with Mike Lowell in exchange for Pedro Martinez.
Where is he now?
Now age 52, Posada’s primary day-to-day tasks involve something else that is near and dear to his heart.
His son, Jorge Posada Jr., was born with Craniosynostosis. This is a birth defect where the development of the skull occurs too early, which can ultimately affect the development of the brain.
Posada created the Jorge Posada Foundation, which helps create awareness of the defect. All proceeds go towards research of Craniosynostosis.
The former backstop still also attends Yankees’ games and was recently in attendance for the retirement ceremony of Paul O’Neill.
While Posada joined the organization with a daunting list of names at the position before his time, he filled right in, stacking up with the best of them.
