Posted by Zach Sanders on Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 1:32 am

According to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, Giants catching prospect Buster Posey has been promoted to Triple-A Fresno.

Posey was selected by the Giants in the 1st Round (5th Overall) of the 2008 draft. In High-A ball this year, Posey has shown his combination of power, average and plate discipline. He has hit .326/.428/.540, to go along with 13 homers and 6 stolen bases, while hitting mostly in the cleanup spot for the San Jose Giants.

There has been one issue for Posey: His line drive rate. He has only hit line drives 17.7% of the time, along with ground balls 52% of the time. Not good. He needs to work on getting the ball into the air before he can become truly successful as a hitter.

According to Minor League Splits, Posey’s numbers in High-A translate to a .236/.303/.374 line in the majors. If the LD% can rise to ~20%, this will also be on the rise.

One thing Buster has done really well, is hit lefties. His minor league numbers against south paws have been .446/.539/.819 with 8 HR, translating to a .322/.392/.544 in the Bigs.

He won’t just be a lefty killer in The Show, but he needs to continue to work on his game if he wants to make an impact on the big league roster soon. Bengie Molina’s contract is up after this year, so Posey could be called upon sooner, rather than later, to help out the Giants.