Tayman Named to Buster Posey Collegiate Catcher of the Year Watchlist
4/1/2026 11:00:00 AM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — For the sixth straight year, a Cal Poly player has been placed on the Buster Posey Award Watch List, an annual award presented to the nation's best collegiate catcher.
Ryan Tayman, a junior who transferred to Cal Poly after playing for two seasons at Cal, was added to the 50-player midseason watch list Wednesday. He joins Myles Emmerson (2021), Ryan Stafford (2022, 2023 and 2024) and Jack Collins (2025) as Mustangs who have been on the Buster Posey Award Watch list the last five seasons.
Stafford was one of three finalists in 2024 while Collins was a semifinalist a year ago.
Mustang head coach Larry Lee has guided his catchers to first- or second-team All-Big West Conference honors 10 times over the last 13 years (not including the 2020 COVID season).
"Ryan is the total package," said Lee. "He receives, blocks, and throws well. He is a great communicator with the pitching staff. He also hits for average and power, and delivers in the clutch."
The reigning Big West Field Player of the Week, Tayman joins a standout list of Cal Poly catchers that also includes Nick Meyer, Chris Hoo, Ross Brayton, Matt Canepa, Kyle Blumenthal and Cory Taillon during Lee's 24-year tenure.
Hoo was National Catcher of the Year in 2014 and a first-team All-Big West selection in both 2012 and 2014 while Stafford (2022-24) and Meyer (2016-18) each earned three Big West first- or second-team awards. Emmerson was a first-team All-Big West choice in 2021 and Collins earned second-team honors in 2025.
Tayman hit a home run in each game of the UC Riverside series last weekend and the Grover Beach, Calif., native was 6-for-13 with four RBIs and four runs scored. He added two more home runs in Tuesday's 10-4 win at Fresno State, giving him home runs in four straight Cal Poly games, a school Division I record.
A 2023 graduate of Arroyo Grande High School, Tayman has played in each of Cal Poly's 27 games so far, compiling a .333 batting average with five doubles, a triple and a team-leading nine home runs. He also leads the Mustangs in RBIs with 30 and has scored 22 runs.
Among his nine round-trippers this spring are three grand slams, tying the school Division I record for bases-loaded four-baggers in a single season and career. Grant Desme hit three grand slams in his Mustang career, all in the 2007 season. Tayman's four-RBI clouts have come in back-to-back games against Fresno State (March 10) and Cal State Bakersfield (March 13) as well as in Tuesday's game at Fresno State.
Defensively, Tayman has committed just three errors in 267 total fielding chances for a .989 fielding percentage. He also has allowed just one passed ball and has thrown out seven opposing runners trying to steal while also picking off two other base runners.
At Cal, Tayman hit .254 in 21 games (16 starts) as a freshman and .274 in 39 contests (17 starts) in 2025, his sophomore season. He was named San Luis Obispo County Player of the Year by The Tribune and earned first-team all-state honors following his senior campaign at Arroyo Grande High School in 2023, thanks in part to a .453 batting average, six home runs and 20 RBIs in 28 games.
The 10-person preseason watch list was released in February and the expanded 50-player midseason watch list was announced Wednesday. It will be updated with the semifinalists in May and ballots will be sent to the national voting committee at the end of May for a vote to determine the three finalists.
The finalists will be announced in early June following a vote of Division I coaches throughout the country and the final vote among the national committee will occur during the College World Series. All finalists will be brought to Wichita and the winner will be announced in late June.
Tayman is the lone catcher from a Big West school on the midseason watch list.
The Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission created the National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award in 2000. Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench was the original namesake of the award and it was changed to the Buster Posey Award in 2019 after Bench began working with the Cincinnati Reds.
