San Francisco Giants: 5 Reasons Why Brandon Belt Should Play Third Base
Four-to-six weeks is a long time for Pablo Sandoval to be on the disabled list.
It's an even longer time for Miguel Tejada to be a regular starter.
The Giants need offense and defense, and Tejada can provide neither.
Since the only other third base alternative on the roster is Ryan Rohlinger, who somehow finagled a promotion albeit a .194 average in Fresno, I propose we best start getting creative.
Inspired by an NBC sports article, here are the top five reasons Brandon Belt should start playing third base.
5. It's Only a Couple of Weeks
1 of 5
We're only really talking about four to six weeks. This isn't a permanent move, just a temporary fix.
If anything goes drastically wrong, it can be called a failed experiment and we can move on.
Honestly, though—what could happen? The guy makes a fielding error or two?
We run that risk each time the ball heads toward Tejada, regardless (if he can even get close enough to the ball to commit an error, that is).
4. We've Got TV to Film Here
2 of 5
The Giants are not just your run-of-the-mill major league team. They are the defending World Series champions, with a program airing on Showtime.
Let's face it—Brian Wilson's beard has been overdone. The 2K Sports ad and the "into his beard" commercials were great upon initial release, but it's been six months. We need a new gig.
There's only so many times you can reference Cody Ross and his father's circus clown days, and Tim Lincecum hasn't been caught smoking anything funny in some time.
The Giants are almost getting ordinary.
Nothing would light up the baseball world more than putting a lefty at third base. It could redefine the meaning of "hot corner," and reestablish the Giants' reputation as the league's goofiest squad.
3. The Alternative Is...
3 of 5
As I mentioned before, the Giants don't have a ton of options.
Ryan Rohlinger has tried his hand in the big leagues for four-straight years, hitting .134/.183/.194.
A slugging percentage under .200 is a definite warning signal.
In addition, even if one overlooks Rohlinger's paltry .194 average in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League so far in 2011, he has still accumulated five errors in 20 games.
Connor Gillaspie, another Fresno Grizzly, also appears to not be a solution.
At the age of 23, he has posted a .280/.368/.440 line in Fresno, with two homers and one steal. Gillaspie is not a bad player—there's just nothing to get excited about. Not a ton of power or speed, and like Rohlinger, five errors already.
We're beating a dead horse saying that incumbent Miguel Tejada is clearly in over his head.
.png?w=256)
2. Long Arms
4 of 5
I want to see someone try to hit a ball past Brandon Belt at third base. The dude's got arms like an orangutan.
It might be a slight problem that Belt is left-handed, and normally past T-Ball you don't see any lefties playing third, but Tejada's defense is more porous than Swiss cheese and Bochy lets him go out there every day.
In all seriousness, though, Belt's got a cannon for an arm. If his arm is good enough for the outfield, it could theoretically be good enough to offset any lost time rearranging his feet, fielding a ground ball.
Plus, he can guard the line like no righty could. He doesn't have to reach across his body, since his glove is already on the closer side. Doubles prevention machine.
1. He's a Rookie
5 of 5
In any sort of all-male environment, the laws of seniority must be strictly adhered to.
In human cultures, dating back millennia, there have been rights of initiation, often along the lines of the more senior members sending out the young guys to perform humiliating tasks, hoping that they embarrass themselves in front of everybody else.
Just because, in this analogy, the right of initiation is for a rookie to play a position he's never played before—and "everyone else" is a national audience of several million people—doesn't mean the basic principles don't stand.
Somebody's got to man up and play third base, and it sure isn't going to be Aubrey Huff, who's had enough position changes for a while.
Therefore, Belt, the rookie, definitely gets the onerous task of being the first lefty to play any infield position other than first base since 1896—the year Bill Hulen played shortstop for the Phillies.
Maybe his teammates can have him pull an all-nighter, chugging beers before his first start while they're at it.
.png?w=480)
