And his performance thus far in the majors would seem to indicate that the answer is, and has been, "no."
But Belt has most assuredly been the victim of some poor luck...right?
A quick glance at his .243 BABIP and one would think that he has in fact been quite unlucky.
As you can see, his xBABIP-adjusted stats more or less have him at one more expected hit than actual hit, meaning his average would be adjusted to .220 instead of .200.
In essence, he's only been slightly unlucky. So perhaps his slump isn't just bad luck on balls in play -- but rather, young BB gun needs a little seasoning.
What I do know is this: He's swung at 22.9% of pitches outside of the strike zone -- stellar in comparison to the 2010 league average O-Swing% of 29%. In addition, he's walked in 13.8% of his plate appearances thus far; we must take this with a grain of salt, as BB% doesn't stabilize until around 200 PAs, but it puts him among the elite "walkers" in the game.
In the end, though, his hitting just hasn't been up to par. A .200/.310/.280 slash line (yes, small sample size) isn't going to cut it -- especially from a first baseman.
Then today, this came courtesy of Baggs --
Giants manager Bruce Bochy didn’t completely show his cards, but he sure seemed to tip his hand when asked about the possibility of demoting struggling rookie first baseman Brandon Belt.
Bochy said the club must make a decision tomorrow, when Cody Ross is likely to be activated from the disabled list. (Ross is playing nine innings for Triple-A Fresno today at Las Vegas and says he isn’t feeling any soreness in his right calf. He’ll rejoin the Giants tomorrow in Denver, and if he comes out of today’s activity with no problems, he’ll probably come off the DL.)
When Cody Ross and Andres Torres return, the Giants need to make room for them. The odd men out are, in all likelihood, Darren Ford and Brandon Belt.
And is that such a bad thing, to send Belt down to the minors?
- If he does in fact need seasoning, as some scouts are saying, he'll benefit from time in AAA.
- With Aubrey Huff moving back to first base, and a far better defensive outfielder taking over in right field, the Giants will get a much-needed improvement in their outfield defense.
- Perhaps most importantly -- let's not be myopic here -- it'll potentially give the Giants an extra year of control of Brandon Belt. That could prove to be quite valuable.
I think in the end, sending Belt back down to the minors could be the best thing -- not only for him -- but for this team.
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