Giants’ Wood praises Posey
New starter prefers veteran behind plate
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. » When new Giants starter Alex Wood signed with the club in January, he said throwing to catcher Buster Posey was one of the primary reasons he was looking forward to the 2021 season.
After his first spring training outing in the Giants’ 3-1 win over the White Sox on Thursday, Wood revealed another example of why he’s excited about his first year in San Francisco: He doesn’t have to try to get Posey out.
“He’s one of the most frustrating people ever to face because he can beat you in so many different ways,” Wood said.
Posey owns a career .269 average against Wood and he’s never homered in 26 career at-bats
against the southpaw, but their head-to-head matchups stand out for good reason.
“I almost would rather have (Posey) have a homer off of me because he’s gotten so many hits on my changeup that’s he’s just dumped into the outfield,” Wood said. “I’ve beat him, and he just gets hits.”
In his second start at catcher this spring, Posey struck out twice in two at-bats, but helped Wood and new Giants reliever Jake McGee to quick and stress-free innings in their spring debuts.
“A good first outing is good mentally as well as physically,” Wood said. “I was happy with my stuff and I still get nerves going out there, especially for the first start of the spring, especially on a new team, but I felt great and it was awesome to get in a game with Buster.”
Wood was the first member of the Giants’ projected rotation to take the mound in a Cactus League game as manager Gabe Kapler plans to be cautious with his starters throughout the spring.