It's been five long months since we last saw Buster Posey on the field for the San Francisco Giants, getting his 20111 season cut prematurely short by a devastating lower leg injury. But Buster has been working his tail off to rehabilitate his leg, which he's been doing down in Arizona for the past six weeks. San Francisco Chronicle beat writer Hank Schulman made a quick trip down to Scottsdale to check up on his progress, and had some great news to report.
Buster had been slowly ramping up his rehab to the point that he is taking part in a lot of normal baseball activites, such as batting practice, even 100-foot wind sprints at 90 to 100 percent of full speed with little to no discomfort. But even more important he's catching bullpen sessions from instructional-league pitchers and is ready to take up his mantle as Giants catcher once again.
"It was a pretty traumatic injury," he said as he rested between his outdoor work (batting practice and running) and an hour in the weight room. "To be five months out, I'm pretty happy where I am.
Buster is about to reach an important milestone in this whole process, the time he gets to go home to Georgia and unwind and recollect himself before pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training in February. He'll have his hands full though, as he and his wife have four month old twins at home to keep them busy.
And yes, he'll be behind the plate for the first Cactus League game next spring too.
For more on the Giants, head over to McCovey Chronicles.