The Murph and Mac show is headed to Scottsdale this week to hang out with the San Francisco Giants down at spring training.
Before the boys leave for their trip, they wanted to catch up with Bay Area New Group’s Andrew Baggarly.
Baggarly said a few interesting things, including Michael Morse has a chance to make this roster as a right-handed power pinch hitting specialist and that Justin Ruggiano is the most intriguing bench player because he can play all three outfield spots.
But Bruce Bochy has a decision on his hands that will have a major impact on the team. Who should bat second — Eduardo Nunez or Brandon Belt? Baggarly made his suggestion known.
“I think the biggest question, more than how many at-bats Nunez is going to get, is where are they going to come?” Baggarly said. “Is (Bochy) going to use Nunuez to break up his lefties lower in the lineup? Or could he hit Nunez second behind Denard Span? Or even lead him off. I think Span is still the leadoff hitter on this team until he would play himself out of that, but it’s really going to be interesting to see what he does with that No. 2 spot.
“Because Brandon Belt, well you think, he didn’t have that 30 home run season that everyone’s been anticipating. But I think that’s mostly a product of playing in AT&T Park. Nobody gets cheated more than Belt does on homers. You look up at the end of the year, and he ranks fifth in the National League with a .395 on base percentage. So that’s a guy you want hitting in the two spot. He took to it rather well in September. If I’m putting together a lineup, that’s where I would bat Brandon Belt.”
Belt took most of his at-bats third in the lineup last season (201) and batted his fair share in lineup hole No. 5 (160). Belt took 27 regular season at-bats second in the lineup in 2016.
Last season Angel Pagan saw 280 at-bats second in the lineup, while Joe Panik saw 293.
