Brandon Belt was dropped from the 10-day injured list last week in Texas. He went 3 for 4 in that game, but then went without a hitting in 16 at-batting with seven strikeouts in the last five games of the road trip.
San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler walks towards the mound during a baseball game against the Washington Nationals on Sunday, June 13, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo / Nick Wass)
Brandon Belt of the San Francisco Giants watches his 2-point home run in the 3rd inning against the Seattle Mariners during the MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif. On Wednesday, September 16, 2020.
As almost all players, coaches, managers, and fans know, baseball is a game in which failure is very important. Great teams lose 60 times in a 162-game season. Very good hitters can strike out in seven of ten at-bat appearances.
So when a good team or a good hitter collapses, the manager of that team has to decide, in essence, what an acceptable level of failure is.
At his Zoom press conference on Monday afternoon before the Giants face Arizona at Oracle Park, San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler addressed the issue in terms of his team’s offense.
The Giants entered Monday with the best record (40-25) in the National League. They were second in the NL for home runs with 91 and fourth in OPS with .724.
But in their previous five games, the Giants hitters had grown to 22 for 151 (0.146) and had no more than five hits in any of those five games.
“You want to be patient. You want to have confidence in the results you get on larger sample sizes, and at the same time, you want to have some urgency, ”Kapler said. “So what’s cool is that urgency can be applied to training, not assessment. “
Kapler then referred to Brandon Belt. The first baseman was off the 10-day injured list (left oblique strain) last Tuesday in Texas. He went 3-for-4 in that game, but then went without a hitting in 16 at-batting with seven strikeouts in the last five games of the road trip before doubling at home the game’s first point on Monday. .
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 13: Brandon Belt # 9 of the San Francisco Giants defeats the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on June 13, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr / Getty Images)
“He doesn’t make his best contact,” Kapler said, “but we do remember that like last year he went through similar times of wrestling and we hung out with him because we knew he was , over a very long period of time, has been an excellent offensive performer.
After his first 14 games in last year’s truncated season, Belt was 5 for 39 (0.128) with a homerun. He finished 2020 with career highs in batting average (0.309), percentage on base (0.425) and percentage hitting (0.591).
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – SEPTEMBER 06: Brandon Belt # 9 of the San Francisco Giants hits a home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the seventh inning at Oracle Park on September 6, 2020 in San Francisco, California. The San Francisco Giants defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-2. (Photo by Jason O. Watson / Getty Images)
“We keep all that confidence… in our hitters and believing their best games are going to come through,” Kapler said. “Then you take the urgency of the workout and say, ‘Can we turn up the intensity a little bit to prepare our body and mind for what’s to come? ”
“So I think that’s how you apply the emergency without ever hitting the panic button because we believe in these guys and our attack as a whole, long term. “
[email protected]’ lineup vs. @Dbacks’ RHP Matt Peacock …LaMonte Wade Jr. – LFMike Yastrzemski – RFDonovan Solano – 2BBrandon Crawford – SSBrandon Belt – 1BMike Tauchman – CFCurt Casali – CJason Vosler – 3BAlex Wood – LHP
The Diamondbacks can certainly relate to the management of failure. They brought a 10-game losing streak overall and a 19-game road slippage in Monday’s game.
California reopening: Kapler was asked how he and his team looked forward to the easing of most coronavirus restrictions in California on Tuesday.
“It’s an exciting time,” Kapler said. “I find it really interesting in our clubhouse, there is still a lot of mask wearing and it’s by choice. So I think everyone will adapt in different ways.
“And I think we share the excitement of the Giants fans to understand that something a little more normal and recognizable is happening, even though we were just traveling to Washington, DC, and you know it looked like a stadium.” full at times. You looked up in the stands and people were relaxing and enjoying baseball, and I think that’s what we’re all aiming for. ”
Injury updates: Kapler said outfielder Alex Dickerson (back pain) is on schedule to leave the 10-day IL on Saturday, the first day he’s eligible to do so. … reliever John Brebbia, who underwent surgery on Tommy John last June, faced three hitters (walk, double, strikeout) Monday for Triple-A Sacramento and is expected to raise Tuesday before the Giants make a decision at its subject Thursday. In six innings in six appearances with the River Cats before Monday, he allowed two runs on three hits with 10 strikeouts.
