Buster Posey Had Best Catching Seasons In SF Giants’ History
By Tej Kamaraju
4. Dick Dietz, 1971
| Year ▾ | Age | G | PA | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 29 | 142 | 558 | 58 | 114 | 19 | 0 | 19 | 72 | 1 | 3 | 97 | 86 | .252 | .387 | .419 | .806 | 130 |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/14/2014.
Dietz put up a second straight solid offensive season for the Giants, helping San Francisco win its first NL West title in his final season in the Bay Area. He was placed on waivers the following spring and claimed by the Dodgers. While the Giants claimed his defensive liabilities led to his release, former Giants pitcher John D’Acquisto claimed Dietz was black-balled because of his role as the team’s player representative in a strike that wiped out the start of the 1972 season.
Considering Dietz was out of the game after hitting .295 with a .474 on-base percentage for Atlanta in 1973, there may be something to that.
In any event, Dietz’s last season as a big-league regular was a good one. He was second in the National League with 97 walks and eighth with a .387 on-base percentage.
Dietz led NL catchers with a .387 on-base percentage, was second with an .806 OPS and third with 19 homers.
He struggled in the NLCS against Pittsburgh, however, going just 1-for-15 with two walks in the four-game loss to the Pirates.