What Brandon Belt Is Not

[Rog]

Fan Graphs ranked the Giants #6 in the majors at first base despite the concerns of some of their fans.  Fan Graphs wrote:  "There’s always so much focus on what Brandon Belt is not, at least in San Francisco. He’s not a 30-homer-hitting, league-leading slugger type. He probably won’t hit .300, either. And though his defense is decent, he’s not as fleet of foot as he used to be. Let’s not forget, though, that he had a top-10 on-base percentage among qualified batters last year, so he does have his strengths. He’s also good for an annual awesome adjustment that helps him make the most of his batted balls.



"Interestingly, it’s a given that the Giants run Buster Posey out there against lefties. But Belt has been 28% better than league average against lefties. He can take a walk and has improved his power over the years, so he’s not a liability, really. Oh well, just another case of his skillset being undervalued."

[sfgdood]

Bottom line is this...we need corner position players to produce runs, not to just get on base. Buster Posey is eventually going to be a 1st baseman. Now that we have Hundley, I say now is as good a time as any. Since stats geek publications are proclaiming Belt such a great hitter, we should be able to get someone who can actually hit homers and drive in runs by trading the big oaf.

[Islandboagie]

The fact that they think his defense is just "decent" paints another clear picture of the level of their knowledge. With that in mind, how can one take what they say about his offense as anything more than a guess?

[Rog]

The Giants could use guys to drive in runs regardless of position. And the guy who did the second-best job on the team plays first base.

If we want to look at it by position, Brandon drove in the 14th-most runs of any first baseman. That places him just above average. The Giants scored the 19th-most runs of any team in the majors, meaning he likely had fewer chances to drive in runs than the average first baseman, particularly since a lot of first basemen bat third or fourth. In terms of knocking in runs, only 15 first basemen drove home more than 69. Brandon exceeded that total by nearly 20%.

RBI's are a team stat. Your teammates before you have to get on base for you to drive them in. Brandon knocked in 65 of them.

So what do the Giants truly need on offense? Then need good hitters, and most would say Brandon was the Giants' best last season. Long-term I like Buster Posey's bat better, and Hunter Pence's pretty close to as well. But last season Brandon was the Giants' best hitter.

Bleacher Report is in the process of ranking each position 1 through 30. Buster Posey was ranked the #1 catcher, Brandon the #7 first baseman, Joe Panik the #18 second basemen, Brandon Crawford the #4 shortstop, Eduardo Nunez the #21 third baseman, and Denard Span the #28 center fielder. They haven't gotten to left and right fields, but it's plain to see that Hunter Pence will rank above average and Jarrett Parker at or near the bottom.

Brandon Belt isn't the problem! Boly has admitted he's biased, but I have no idea what is preventing any others from seeing what is a clear and present picture.

The Giants' lowest ranking is Denard Span in center field, and we know that if the Giants can get a proper platoon partner for Denard, they can raise their level of center field play by a decent amount. The Giants' center field positions ranks significantly higher than #28 -- against right-handed pitching. Against southpaws, it might rank #31 out of 30.

I can make an argument Brandon's being anywhere from the bottom of the first quartile to the second quartile. After the top six first basemen, there's a gap, and the seventh through about 15th guys are reasonably close. Then there's another gap. What I can't do is find evidence that Brandon is below average. No one can, since it just doesn't exist.

This stuff is obvious to anyone who is a serious baseball fan. Why do we persist in saying otherwise?

[Rog]

The Giants could indeed get a first baseman with power for Brandon. Heck, they could have signed Chris Carter this winter for practically nothing. Power was cheap this off-season. Teams are looking for well-rounded players ... like Brandon Belt.

The Giants could trade Brandon for a more powerful first baseman, maybe even one who would be more powerful at AT&T Park, but what they can't do is trade for a first baseman as good as Brandon is.

This stuff is so simple I don't even know why we're discussing it.