Giants not yet sure of Opening Day lineup
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — At the beginning of Cactus League play, Giants manager Gabe Kapler wasn’t certain who would be his Opening Day first baseman.
Kapler still isn’t sure Brandon Belt will be ready to go by Thursday’s matchup with the Seattle Mariners, but he has far more confidence now than he did in February.
“Right now I see a real path to him being ready for us on Opening Day and ready to contribute right away,” Kapler said Thursday.
After undergoing surgery to remove a bone spur in his heel in October, Belt thought he would need extra time to heal at the beginning of camp and the Giants weren’t certain he would be a full participant in spring workouts. In the weeks leading up to his departure for Scottsdale, Belt tested positive for COVID-19 and was diagnosed with mononucleosis shortly thereafter, zapping his energy and robbing him of the chance to get on the field during the first weeks of Cactus League games.
Belt finally made his spring training debut as a pinch-hitter in Wednesday’s game against the Padres and notched his first start of the spring on Thursday against the Brewers, going 1-for-2 with a line drive single and playing first base for four innings.
“I feel a lot better off than I thought I would be,” Belt said Wednesday. “I’ve taken a lot of live BPS, I probably have about 15-to-20 at-bats right now of live BPS, which it’s not perfect, but it’s something.”
Those 15-to-20 at-bats could turn into 30-to-35 by the end of exhibition play, especially if Belt has enough stamina to participate in some of the upcoming live batting practices the Giants have planned. That would push the veteran first baseman into a similar situation as
the one he countered at the beginning of the 2020 season, when Belt missed a week of regular season games due to a heel injury that kept him off the field for much of summer camp.
“Last year, it probably took me around 35-to-40 at-bats before I started to get some good timing,” Belt said. “We're probably halfway there, I actually feel really good swinging the bat right now. I feel great in the cage, I feel like everything is where it needs to be. I feel like my eyes and everything needs to calibrate, you know the speed and whatnot to speed my body up or slow it down.”
Regardless of how much Belt is able to accomplish over the next several days, the Giants will have a tough decision when it comes to keeping him on the Opening Day roster. They'd be taking a risk that he wouldn't have any health setbacks and also banking on a fairly rapid acclimation to high-level pitching, which actually took Belt awhile to adjust to in 2020.
Despite posting careerhighs with a .309 average and 1.015 OPS last year, Belt went 9-for-47 with 17 strikeouts to open the season as he was one of the team's least productive hitters into the middle of August. With a relatively soft schedule in April, the Giants will have a chance to jump out to a hot start, but doing so while Belt isn't quite at full strength could make that task more difficult.
The alternative option for the Giants is to place Belt on the 10-day injured list and send him to their Sacramento alternate site to open the season. Doing so would give Belt an extra week or so to take more at-bats, but the competition wouldn't be as challenging as what he'd see at the major league level.
If the Giants do leave Belt off the Opening Day roster, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has indicated the club will still carry 13 position players and 13 pitchers. That would clear the way for outfielder and first baseman Lamonte Wade Jr. to begin the year with the Giants, giving Kapler added depth at several positions.
It's unlikely Wade would see many starts, however, as the club would likely use Wilmer Flores or Tommy La Stella at first base in Belt's absence.