San Francisco Giants: Brandon Belt Gets the Nod at First Base for the Team

What the San Francisco Giants didn’t do with Buster Posey last season, they are doing with Brandon Belt this season.

The Giants announced on Tuesday that Belt will begin the season with the big club and will be their starting first baseman come Opening Day. Aubrey Huff will move from first to right.

The original plan was to have Belt start the season in Triple-A, but Belt used a solid spring to force the Giants’ hand.

He hit .282/.338/.489 with three HRs in 71 spring training ABs.

Considering that Belt will be with the Giants from the start of the season, he becomes an instant favorite for the NL Rookie of the Year award. The kid can flat-out rake. He hit .352 through three different levels in 2010.

One interesting caveat to this move is that Huff is now moving to right field.

To say Huff is fleet of foot is to say Kentucky basketball is a mid-major.

Huff has a career minus-21.5 UZR in right field. With him in right and with Pat Burrell in left, the Giants might have the two worst defensive corner outfielders in baseball.

However, luckily for the Giants, they have a bunch of strikeout pitchers from top to bottom to help with that problem.

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