San Francisco Giants: 4 Reasons Brandon Belt Will Be Sent Down

Brandon Belt has struggled out of the gates this season, so much so that it might force San Francisco Giants management to make a decision that will be very unpopular among the fan base: send Belt back down to Triple-A Fresno.

If Belt is in fact sent down to the minor leagues again for the fourth time in the past two seasons, it might cause riots in streets of San Francisco.

However, members of the "Free Belt" movement are starting to go quiet, and rightly so. Belt has yet to live up to the hype and produce at the major-league level. He looks lost at the plate. He's swinging at pitches in dirt and taking fastballs right down the pipe.

As much as I hate to say it, potential alone can only get you so far in this league; and right now Belt is in the lineup purely based on what many think be could potentially become.

Here's a list of four reasons why Belt will be sent down to the minor leagues in the near future.

4. Brett Pill

It is easy to be turned off by the idea of seeing Brett Pill start at first base simply because he is a 27-year-old rookie.

It's a valid point, but I believe that excuse should only be taken into consideration when the first-year player is well into his thirties. There is a reason why a player doesn't figure things out until the tail end of his career, and you should be wary of those types of ball players.

But Pill is still only 27 years old. Drew Stubbs of the Cincinnati Reds is 27 years old, and this is only his third full season in the major leagues. Age doesn't mean a thing if the player is only about to enter his prime years.

And the cold truth is that Pill has produced in the few opportunities he has been given throughout the past two years.

He batted .300 in 50 at-bats in 2011, and is currently batting .353 in only 17 at-bats this season.

Heck, he already has six hits this season, which is just as many as Belt has accumulated so far. Belt has, however, had nine more at-bats than Pill.

During the Giants broadcast in the New York Mets series, commentator Mike Krukow mentioned that Bruce Bochy is going to make an effort to get Pill more playing time. Pill has made a start in the outfield once this year, but I'd venture to say that Pill will make the majority of his starts at first base this season.

With fewer starts at first base, it will mean more time spent sitting on the bench and being unproductive for Belt. If this is the case, maybe Triple-A is the best option.

3. Brandon Belt Is Pressing Too Hard

Brandon Belt is simply pressing too hard. You can tell by his at-bats when he's swinging at pitches out of the zone, which is extremely uncharacteristic of Belt.

If there was one thing that impressed me about Belt's approach last season, it was his ability to lay off pitches and work a count. We have yet to see much of that this year, and this could be why.

As stated by Henry Schulman of SFGate.com, "[Belt] also plans to attack strikes, which he did not do consistently last year. Bochy considered Belt too passive at the plate, searching for walks instead of trying to crush pitches over the plate."

Belt has been aggressive this year, but it's to a point where it's detrimental to his success in this league.

For all we know, Belt's struggles could be mental, and I don't think that's an outrageous claim at all. Maybe a trip down to the minor leagues to clear his head could be just what the doctor ordered.

2. The Emergence of Hector Sanchez

Even though Hector Sanchez is a catcher, his impressive start to the season could force Brandon Belt to be sent down to the minor leagues.

Bruce Bochy made it clear that Buster Posey was going to make some starts at first base this season in order to preserve his legs. But even though Posey's only made one start at first so far, expect that number to increase as the season progresses and the dog days of summer are upon us.

Another reason why Posey will likely start at first base more often is because of Sanchez, who is currently batting .280 and has at least one RBI in each of his five starts this season. Bruce Bochy loves to put the hot bats in the lineup, and that's exactly what Sanchez has right now.

1. He Simply Hasn't Produced Yet

As I mentioned previously in the introduction, potential can only get you so far in this league.

Being treated like a human yo-yo last season after being sent down three separate times must've been hard to overcome; but baseball is a "what have you done for me lately" league, and Belt simply hasn't done anything.

He hasn't hit for much power this year, and his .346 slugging percentage can attest to that. In fact, he's only had three extra-base hits this season (all doubles), and one of them should've been caught by the New York Mets' center fielder in the bottom of the ninth in a game on April 21st. Also, his only two runs batted in on the season came on that hit, so he should technically still have a goose egg in the RBI column.

He hasn't been making contact at the plate this year either, as his strikeout percentage of 26.7 percent is the worst on the team.

The most alarming aspect of Belt's performance thus far is his lack of patience at the plate. Last year he averaged 4.6 pitches per at-bat; but this year he is only averaging 3.6 pitches. The fact that he is being more aggressive isn't bothersome, but it's that he's swinging at pitches that aren't even close to the strike zone.

When you look at Belt's overall body of work, he simply hasn't produced in the major leagues yet. Combine that with the fact that there are a lot of players looking to get playing time at first base, and it's hard to blame Bruce Bochy for not sticking with Belt.

What Should the Giants Do with Brandon Belt?

What Bruce Bochy, and whoever else is responsible for figuring out playing time, needs to do is give Brandon Belt a role.

Whether it's the starting first base job in San Francisco, Fresno or another team, they need to be straightforward with Belt. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that Belt is very hard on himself and doesn't react well to being handled like an inanimate object that can be sent down to the minor leagues without any repercussions.

It's obvious that all the flip-flopping affects him in a negative way, and if the Giants want to see some productivity from their prospect, they're going to need to learn how to handle him the right way.

Everyone is different, after all.

If the Giants want to see Belt succeed in this league, they should tell him that first base is his for the next 30 games no matter what. Feed him some rope and let him try to figure things out at the plate on his own. It will be much easier to hit without having to fear that if he strikes out he might not get another chance to redeem himself for a few games.

Don't tell him to be more aggressive at the plate either, because that's obviously not the type of hitter that he is.

Just let him be.

There is a reason why Belt was such a coveted prospect, and it's because he absolutely raked minor league pitching. Rarely do we see a prospect tear apart his opposition in the minor leagues like Belt did, then turn around and act totally clueless in the major leagues. There has to be another factor that only Belt knows about.

And if this 30-day experiment doesn't work out, then maybe refining his swing in the minor leagues is the right course of action.

However, if there's one thing for sure, Belt isn't going to figure things out at the plate if he only gets a couple of starts a week. The only way a player is able to break through a slump is getting the reps in. Sitting on the bench watching Aubrey Huff strike out isn't going to make Belt a better hitter.