San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey is the first Major League Baseball player to develop and market his own official mobile game, offering a free game called "Buster Bash" for Apple (AAPL) mobile devices.

The game, available in Apple's iTunes store Monday morning, offers fans the chance to mimic Posey's path to the majors -- from hitting whiffle balls in the backyard of his boyhood home in Georgia to playing in the big leagues.

Posey rocketed to stardom in 2010, when he led the Giants to the team's first World Series title since moving to San Francisco and won the National League Rookie of the Year award. After a serious ankle injury in May 2011 ended that season early for Posey, he has returned to form in 2012, leading the first-place Giants in home runs and RBIs and playing in his first All-Star game.

"Buster Bash" offers five levels tracing Posey's career arc, with players seeing 10 pitches on each level in a home run derby-style format, swinging with a swipe of the finger across the screen of one of Apple's mobile devices. While the game is free, users can purchase extras for real money.

"I think it's fun more than anything," Posey told tech blog Mashable about the game. "I don't really have any goals or expectations about the game other than I hope people really enjoy

The game is available only for iOS devices; according to a tweet from the official "Buster Bash" Twitter account, an Android version is planned but "probably won't be until 2013 at the earliest." The game was developed by Santa Monica-based Ground-Up Logic.

Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/mercbizbreak.