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Demotion the Best Thing for Belt, Giants

Brandon Belt playing first base for the San Francisco Giants

When Brandon Belt made the roster out of spring training, it was a three week tryout. That tryout for all intensive purposes is over. It’s time to send Brandon Belt down to Triple A.

Cody Ross and Andres Torres are set to come off the DL in the coming days, and two roster moves will have to be made to accommodate. The Giants were hoping that Belt would be Posey 2.0, plug him in at first base, and never look back. They were hoping he would make this impending roster decision a tough one. With Darren Ford almost guaranteed to be one of the odd men out, Belt will unavoidably be sitting next to him on the bus ticketed to Fresno.

How did we get to this point? Belt went 0 for 4 on Sunday bringing his career totals to 10 hits in 50 at bats. Only one of those hits is an extra base hit – a three run home run on the season’s second game. In his 49 other at bats, he has one run batted in. Belt has dinked and dunked his batting average from .143 back to the Mendoza Line, but still can’t manage to make loud contact.

My take on three weeks of Brandon Belt is this. We are talking about a 23 year old who spent 90% of last season in single and double A. We are talking about a guy who made his major league debut as the starting first basemen for the defending world champions – with all the ceremonies, all the expectations, and all the pomp and circumstance. The man whose position he’s taking is the heart and soul of the clubhouse. The template of rookie success around here is the likes of Cain, Lincecum, Bumgarner, and a guy named Posey.

Now take a step back and evaluate his performance the past three weeks. Brandon Belt leads the team in pitches seen per plate appearance at 3.43. He also leads the team in walks. Clearly he is still taking a patient approach and putting together good at bats. Defensively, he stood out as one of the lone bright spots, picking everything at first base.

The problem seems to be squaring the ball up. Belt had a very good series to start the year against the Dodgers. Though he only had two hits, there was some impressive contact being made and some loud outs.

You could see a noticeable difference in the next few games against San Diego and St. Louis. The advance scouts did their work and the book was out on Belt – pound him inside. And they did. Belt’s approach early on was clearly middle-away, and he was spitting on anything on the inner half. He’d find himself down in the count early and having to adjust to the inside pitch. For the better part of two weeks now, he’s been struggling to adjust to that pitch. Because of that, he’s not locked into the middle away location either. A swing that had one hole now has two.

For the record, I am not against the Giants placing him in the opening day lineup and starting him these past few weeks. Belt had nothing left to prove in Triple A. It was going to take a legitimate look against major league pitching to identify any holes in his game. Brandon Belt’s development is far better off for it.

It’s time to get him out now before he starts gripping harder than he is and he gets further inside his own head. The last thing you want to do is compound the problem by running him out there day after day watching him regress.

The Giants gave him a shot and he wasn’t ready. Maybe he finds his stroke again in the next six weeks. Who knows, maybe a May 29th call up is in store. I seem to remember the last rookie the Giants brought up on May 29th worked out pretty well.

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