Buster Posey
When you think about the face of the San Francisco Giants, Buster Posey is probably the first name that comes to mind. Posey has been one of the best hitters on the Giants this season as he leads the team in batting average (.333) and on-base percentage (.432).
Posey is hitting over .300 this year, but he comes into this series on a little bit of a slump. Over his last seven games, the 30-year-old catcher is 3-for-22 with five walks. At least when he’s struggling, he’s able to work a walk (21 walks on the season).
Despite his slump, Posey is still having a good month at the plate. In 77 at-bats, he is hitting .325 with six home runs and eight RBI’s. But, every home run he’s hit this year has been a solo shot.
So, if the Nats pitchers do make a mistake to Posey in this series, they need to make sure that the mistake only counts for one run by keeping the top of the San Francisco order off the bases.
If you look at Posey’s track record against the Washington Nationals, he did go 8-for-23 (.348) with two RBI’s against them last year. Plus, he has a home run against Tanner Roark and Gio Gonzalez in his career. Meanwhile, he’s 0-for-2 against Scherzer.
While Posey has only had 46 at-bats this year at home, he is hitting .391 and has a .472 on-base percentage in those games. Eventually, Posey is going to break out of his slump, so he will be a key figure in this series this week. If he is, they just need to make sure its only one run he accounts for.