Sports

FSU’s Posey does it all

• Former Lee County star Buster Posey becomes the fourth Florida State player under coach Mike Martin to play every position during a single game.

Scott Chancey

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Just when it was thought a drastic change when Lee County product Buster Posey played catcher the past two years, he went one step further Monday.

He not only caught behind the plate and pitched, he also played the other seven positions, becoming only the fourth Florida State player to do it under coach Mike Martin and the Seminoles defeated Savannah State, 10-0.

Florida State outscored Savannah state, 76-10, in this year’s four-game series.

Martin’s son, Mike Jr., was the most recent player to be at every position in a single game in 1994.

“To see Buster play all nine positions just shows you what kind of talent the guy has,” Martin told Seminoles.com. “At no time was I ever worried about a ball being hit to him. Buster looked very comfortable everywhere he was so that just goes to show you what kind of athlete that he is.”

Posey, a finalist for the Johnny Bench Award for the second consecutive year, honoring the nation’s best collegiate catcher,  started behind the plate and then moved to first base in the second inning. He then played second in the third, shortstop in the fourth and third in the fifth.

Then, he made his first collegiate appearance in the outfield in the sixth, playing left field and then shifting to center with two outs. He moved to the mound in the seventh and struck out two batters before moving to right for the final out of the inning. He registered a putout in the field and he was on the receiving end of the first putout of the second inning at first base.

“First base was probably the weirdest position for me to play just because I’ve never really played there before,” Posey said. “In the Cape Cod League this summer, I played left and right field in two separate games.

Center field was the one position I have never played.”

Posey also went 1-for-3 at the plate, hitting his third career grand slam in the bottom of the second. He finished Monday’s game with four RBI and two runs scored.

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