Posey to undergo season-ending surgery

Buster Posey announced Friday that he will be having arthroscopic surgery on his right hip to repair a torn labrum and clear out a buildup of bone spurs Monday in Vail, Colorado.

The operations will be handled by Dr. Marc Philippon.

He is set to fly out to Colorado Sunday for the surgery, which will take approximately six to eight months of recovery. He and the team expect he will be ready to go by Opening Day 2019.

Posey has had chronic discomfort associated with his right hip in recent years, but there was never any specific incident that caused it, and it only just reached critical mass this season:

“I think it was just an accumulation over the years and it’s just kind of gotten to the point this year where it’s affected me a little bit more. … There’s nothing I could point to — not one [specific] time, there’s pain throughout, but there’s not one singular time. I don’t think that’s this type of injury.”

Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco similarly had the labrum in both his left and right hips repaired in 2015 and 2016 in separate surgeries by Dr. Bryan Kelly, whom Posey said examined him when the team was in New York earlier this week, though the team ultimately opted for Philippon.

Posey is confident that the surgery will offer him the best chance to get back to form, and the sooner it’s done the sooner he can recover. But he said that if the team had been in closer contention for a playoff spot he would’ve muscled his way through it.

“You don’t want to say you’re out of it until you’re out of it, but unfortunately where we are I think it makes the most sense to get this taken care of now.”

He added:

“Everything that I’ve researched and heard it that the outcome is generally pretty good and they get you back to getting that range in your hip that’s so pretty vital for hitting and squatting.”

Julie Parker is SFBay’s San Francisco Giants beat writer. Follow @SFBay and @InsideThePark3r on Twitter and at SFBay.ca for full coverage of Giants baseball.