During Bruce Bochy’s pregame interview session, I asked the San Francisco Giants manager a question many people have today after looking at the lineup: why isn’t Brandon Belt hitting second?
It’s clear that after Pablo Sandoval’s injury prodded Bochy to move Melky Cabrera down a spot to No. 3, he hasn’t really settled on a No. 2 hitter. On Tuesday, the first day post-Panda, Bochy had Gregor Blanco leading off with Angel Pagan hitting behind him. The next two games had Conor Gillaspie hitting second. Yesterday Ryan Theriot was the No. 2 guy, and today it’s Gillaspie again. Those who’ve started in the No. 2 spot since Sandoval’s injury have gone 3-for-16 with 1 run scored.
So here’s what I asked Bochy, followed by his response (also shown on the video below).
With a lot of different hitters in the 2-spot lately since Melky’s moved down, have you ever considered Belt for the No. 2 hole?
Bochy: Yeah I have, we’ve talked about it more than once and that is a possibility and you could see that. I think he’d be a pretty good No. 2 hitter, on-base guy. But now we’re trying to stretch out the lineup, give it some depth so we get production throughout the order. That is something we have discussed.
