The surgeon who repaired Jorge Posada’s shoulder said it would be good as new, and he appears to be right:
Tuesday night in front of stop-watch-toting scouts, Posada threw out Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury attempting to steal second. Several of those scouts were impressed, as was Derek Jeter, who handled the throw.
“He looked real loose and the ball came out good,” said a scout who clocked Posada at 2.06 seconds from the time he received the ball until it landed in Jeter’s glove. The major league average is 2.0, with the best getting the ball to second between 1.90 and 1.95.
Thanks to significant arm strength Posada’s best time pre-surgery was 1.90 and there is a strong belief that as the arm gets stronger, he will return to that.
“Right at the end it dropped away a bit, but the more he throws that will go away,” the scout said. “Even with that he is throwing better than a lot of catchers. They have to be upbeat about how he is doing.”
Medical science continues to improve, this time to the benefit of Posada and the the Yankees.
Jeez. Not only was Ellsbury safe on that play but ‘Pud’ was lucky his toss didn’t wind up in CF. I would hardly call that play evidence of anything except that if one throws as hard as physically possible accuracy is compromised.
DW:
That throw was certainly off-line and, yeah, I think Jeter actually missed Pedroia’s helmet with the tag. Real close, though. The point was that Posada got off a pretty strong throw.
In a game a few days prior, Posada threw out 3 of 4 attempted base stealers. In other words, his arm is functioning properly. Considering the severity of his injury, that’s pretty cool.
This doesn’t suddenly transform Posada into a good defensive catcher, nor does it mean you must give up your hatred of the eeeevil Yankees.