When Jeff Samardzija held his introductory press conference on Dec. 11, he let it be known that he's excited to pitch to Buster Posey.
The feeling is mutual.
"To me, it's one of the premiere power arms in the game," Posey told KNBR 680 on Thursday night. "I'm just looking forward to having the opportunity to catch a guy who has such an electrifying fastball.
"He's an intimidating presence on the mound. Big, tall, lanky guy coming at with you 96-97. There's a lot to be excited about."
The Giants didn't just ink Samardzija this offseason. They also brought in Johnny Cueto.
Over his career against the 2014 Cy Young runner-up, Posey is 4-for-10 with two walks and no strikeouts.
But the Giants' catcher knows the franchise landed a star.
"What I've always been so impressed with when I was facing him as a hitter -- the velocity is there and it's with movement, but he's not just a thrower," Posey explained. "He pitches. He has a really good idea of what he's doing.
"And for a guy that gets ahead in the count like that, as quickly as he does, it's a great thing because you end up exploiting hitters as the game goes on and get some quicker outs.
"They don't want to get down in a hole and maybe you start to get them to chase a little bit, and before you know it, you're pitching deep into the game."
Posey and the Giants are looking to win their fourth World Series in the last seven seasons.
That's all the 2012 MVP cares about.
"From everything I've heard from teammates and people who have been around him (Samardzija) -- same for Cueto -- two guys that want to win," Posey said. "And ultimately, that's what it boils down to. And it seems like such a simple concept. But there are certain guys that I do believe want it a little bit more, and hopefully we got a couple of them in Cueto and Samardzija."
