Posada as Pictured in the 1976 Columbus Astros Game Program |
Year | Team | League | Games | AB | Runs | Hits | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | 1960 | Kansas City Athletics | American | 10 | 36 | 8 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | .361 | .410 | .556 |
1961 | Kansas City Athletics | American | 116 | 344 | 37 | 87 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 53 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 84 | .253 | .321 | .366 |
1962 | Kansas City Athletics | American | 29 | 46 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 | .196 | .302 | .261 |
In 1965, his MVP season for Amarillo was all the more impressive since the Sonics finished 17 out in the West. Posada led the league in RBI's and homers and finished no worse than ninth in average. For 1966, Posada's power numbers were down--I imagine something affected his playing time, maybe an injury?--but he did manage to finish seventh in the league in average. If it had been an injury, that injury continued to affect him in 1967, when he played AAA ball at Okalahoma City. But I think that even by this time, even though Richards and his protege, Lou Fitzgerald, were gone to Atlanta and their system, the Astros were grooming Posada for a managerial job. The fact that Posada spent two years under Fitzgerald at San Antonio and Amarillo didn't hurt, I'm sure.
After a year on the bench at AAA Oklahoma City in 1967, Posada was brought back in 1968 and assigned to the single A Florida State League. Tony Pacheco started the year as manager, but sometime during June, Pacheco departed for Covington to manage his second straight year for the Appalachian League Rookie club. Posada, who must've started the year as Player/Coach, was now Player/Manager. I don't have the splits, and I have no idea how much credit Posada gets and how much Pacheco gets for the Astros' 74 - 65, second-place finish.
Year | Team | League | Average | Homers | RBI | W - L | ERA | 1964 | San Antonio Bullets | Texas | .272 | 22 | 90 |
1965 | Amarillo Sonics | Texas | .305 | 26 | 107 | ||
1966 | Amarillo Sonics | Texas | .317 | 5 | 56 | ||
1967 | Oklahoma City '89ers | Pacific Coast | .244 | 1 | 3 | ||
1968 | Cocoa Astros | Florida State | .284 | 3 | 25 | 0- 1 | 10.80 |
1969 | Cocoa Astros | Florida State | .313 | 0 | 3 | ||
Year | Team | League | Record | |
1968 | Cocoa Astros | Florida State | 74-65* | |
1969 | Cocoa Astros | Florida State | 42 - 87 | |
1973 | Cedar Rapids Astros | Midwest | 61-60 | |
1974 | Cedar Rapids Astros | Midwest | 54-66 | |
1976 | Columbus Astros | Southern | 58 - 80 | |
1978 | Daytona Beach Astros | Florida State | 42 - 93+ | |
* Half-year managed by Tony Pacheco | + Half-year or so managed by Chuck Sprinkle | |||
He returned to Cedar Rapids for 1974, and afer a year managing in the Yankees' came back to manage for the Astros two years out of the next three. No, none of the seasons were spectacular, but it's all service time, you know? Posada left the Astros chain for good and became a minor league instructor for the Dodgers in 1979. I am still unsure what he did in 1977, although I would like to find out. Posada's career is one of the longer ones within the Astros' minor league organization: it'd bee wroth knowing.
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Or click here to email me if you DO mind, or if you have information regarding Leo Posada, like season splits in '68 or '78. Thanks to Maxwell Kates for help thus far.