Brandon Belt has been a nice story thus far in San Francisco, but that “nice story” could turn into a cautionary one soon if the young man doesn’t start hitting.
Despite many believing he would start the year at Triple-A Fresno, the 22-year-old Belt made the Giants’ roster after a great spring. San Francisco management believed that he made the club better and with outfielder Cody Ross set to start the year on the DL, it was easy to make room for Belt after designating 1B Travis Ishikawa for assignment.
But since then, Aubrey Huff (who had to move to right field because Belt took his job at first) has been somewhat of a circus act in the outfield and Aaron Rowand (despite a bad night in Arizona on Friday) is hot after taking over for Andres Torres (15-day DL) in centerfield. Once Torres comes off the DL on April 26, the Giants will have a decision to make, which could mean sending Belt back down to Triple-A.
Granted, that wouldn’t be the worst thing for Belt, who has started to find his stroke at the plate of late, but who still is only hitting .200 with one home run. Ironing out the kinks in the minors now may actually help him later and it’s not as if his career is over if he’s sent down in two weeks. Far from it, in fact: he is the Giants’ first baseman of the future.
That said, no player wants to spend any amount of time in the minors and if he wants to stick around, Belt better start heating up. After showing some frustration at the plate earlier in the season, he’s starting to take better at bats and a hot-streak could be right around the corner. At 6’5” and 210 pounds, opposing pitchers have been hammering him on his hands inside. But after struggling with the pitch for about a week, Belt lined an inside pitch from Daniel Hudson into right field last night for a clean base hit. Thus, maybe he’s starting to come around.
Currently, the Giants have a great blend of young (Belt, Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval) and veteran (Huff, Torres, Ross, Rowand, Freddy Sanchez and Miguel Tejada) talent among their position players. But it would be much easier to send Belt down to the minors then designate someone like Nate Schierholtz for assignment, or flat out release a player like Rowand or Pat Burrell. So just as Belt did in spring training, he might have to force Giants’ management to keep him on the roster by finding his stroke.
