Brandon Belt Can Be San Francisco Giants’ “X” Factor
The expectations for San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt have so far outlived the results. With Hunter Pence expected to be shelved for a significant amount of time early in the 2015 MLB season, now is the time the club needs contributions from Belt more than ever.
A career .350 hitter in the minor leagues, Belt has been playing in the majors since 2011 when he exceeded his rookie limits. The results were somewhat mixed that season as he hit only .225 but managed to log a home run for every 20.7 at-bats.
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In 2012 Belt amassed 411 at-bats and a .275 BA, but the power was not where it should have been. He hit only seven home runs compared to the nine he had the year before in only 187 at-bats. The left-hander appeared to take a much more conservative approach with his swing, putting an emphasis on contact over power.
By 2013, a breakout campaign seemed to be in the cards. Belt played in the most games of his career with 150 and definitively had his finest season as a pro with a .289/.360/.481 slash line. He bashed 17 home runs and 67 RBI. By no means are these numbers revered by the typically powerful-hitting first base position, but it was still growth nonetheless.
Last year Belt started his season off tremendously hot. As of April 9 he was hitting .343 and leading the league in home runs with five. He cooled off just as quickly as he heated up, though. By the time May arrived, Belt was hitting only .252 with seven home runs, no longer even ranking first at his position. He eventually lost nearly two months of his season to a broken left thumb after being hit by a pitch on May 9.
His second half of 2014 didn’t do much to inspire, as he sputtered to a .236 batting average after the Midsummer Classic with a mere two home runs. Belt carried his momentum from hitting .286 in September into October where he hit .295 in the postseason and became instrumental in the Giants’ world title. He, along with Pence, became the only players on either team in the World Series to hit safely in all seven games.
Pence suffered a fractured forearm a little over a week ago and his timetable for a return in set at 6-8 weeks. With notable departures via free agency by some of the Giants’ more productive hitters from 2014, that essentially leaves Buster Posey and Belt as the only proven commodities capable of putting up above average power numbers in the lineup.
The 6-foot-5 Belt has shown flashes of becoming one of the most touted first basemen in the National League. In his age 27 season, Giants fans are hopeful he can finally put it all together and vie for a spot in the All-Star game in mid-July.