Buster Posey Award

The Buster Posey Award, formerly known as the Johnny Bench Award, was created in 2000 to honor college baseball's top catcher in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The award is administered by the Wichita Sports Commission and presented after the conclusion of the College World Series.

Buster Posey Award

Awarded for	Best catcher in NCAA's Division I
Sponsored by	Kamerion Wimbley Foundation
Country	United States
Presented by	Wichita Sports Commission
History
First award	2000
Most recent	Caden Bodine, Coastal Carolina

This article is about the award established in 2000 and known as the Johnny Bench Award through 2018. For the award known as the Johnny Bench Award since 2019, see Johnny Bench Award (2019–present).

Originally named for Johnny Bench, it was renamed in 2019 after Johnny Bench announced the creation of his own national award for amateur catchers. The commission reviewed the statistics of the prior winners and unanimously chose to rename the award after Buster Posey.^[1]

Schools nominate their catchers during the season to create the official watch list. A select committee of 20 individuals narrows the watch list down to the semifinalists. Two rounds of voting by Division I head coaches determine the three finalists and eventual recipient of the Buster Posey Award. The current holder of the award is Caden Bodine.

Winners

Kelly Shoppach

Kurt Suzuki

Garrett Stubbs (left), with Johnny Bench.

Key

Year	Links to the article about the corresponding baseball year
Player	Name of the player
School	The player's college when he won the award
Class	The player's year in college when he won the award
^	Player won the MLB Rookie of the Year Award[a]
§	Player also won the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy in the same year
‡	Player is active in MLB[b]

Winners

Year	Name	School	Class	Ref(s)
2000	Brad Cresse	Louisiana State	Senior	[2][3]
2001	Kelly Shoppach	Baylor	Junior	[4]
2002	Jeremy Brown	Alabama	Senior	[5]
2003	Ryan Garko	Stanford	Junior	[6]
2004	Kurt Suzuki‡	Cal State Fullerton		[7]
2005	Jeff Clement	Southern California		[8]
2006	Jake Smith	East Carolina	Senior	[9]
2007	Ed Easley	Mississippi State	Junior	[10]
2008	Buster Posey§^	Florida State		[11]
2009	J. T. Wise	Oklahoma	Senior	[12]
2010	Bryan Holaday‡	TCU		[13][14]
2011	Jake Lowery	James Madison	Junior	[15]
2012	Mike Zunino‡§	Florida		[16]
2013	Stuart Turner	Ole Miss		[17]
2014	Max Pentecost	Kennesaw State		[18]
2015	Garrett Stubbs‡	Southern California	Senior	[19]
2016	Zack Collins‡	Miami	Junior	[20]
2017	Matt Whatley‡	Oral Roberts		[21]
2018	Joey Bart‡	Georgia Tech		[22]
2019	Adley Rutschman‡§	Oregon State		[23]
2020	Award not given
2021	Matheu Nelson‡§	Florida State	Junior	[24]
2022	Kevin Parada‡	Georgia Tech	Sophomore	[25]
2023	Kyle Teel‡	Virginia	Junior	[26]
2024	Walker Janek‡	Sam Houston State		[27]
2025	Caden Bodine	Coastal Carolina		[28]

See also

• Baseball portal

• List of college baseball awards

Notes

1. Won either in the same year or several years later.
2. A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or not played for a full season.