SAN FRANCISCO — It’s been clear that Buster Posey has been dealing with hip discomfort for most of the season. On Monday, the Giants admitted it.
Posey will miss the All-Star Game next week because he had long ago scheduled a cortisone injection to try to calm lingering inflammation in his right hip. The Giants are hopeful that the injection, coupled with four days off, will get Posey right. Manager Bruce Bochy said this has been the plan for about a month, and the Giants have just been trying to get Posey to the break.
“It’s flared up on him,” he said. “He’s missed some time because of it. Our hope was to make it through the week and then give him this injection.”
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Posey was named to his sixth All-Star team on Sunday afternoon. The game is in Washington D.C., making this an uncomfortable situation even if Posey had been healthy. Players will take a red-eye on Sunday night to be there for Monday’s festivities.
Posey has made just 60 starts behind the plate this season, with Nick Hundley playing more than a usual backup. Posey has not played day games after night games in recent weeks and there have been other games where he was suspiciously absent. While Posey is still batting .285, he has just five homers and his slugging percentage is a career-low .412.
“He’s been playing with it but you can tell. All of you can tell,” Bochy said. “This game is hard enough when you’re healthy. It’s the right hip and when you can’t get it to fire when it normally does, sure, it affects your hitting and throwing.”