Brandon Belt Returns To Majors, In Starting Lineup On Tuesday

The Giants experimented with Belt as the starting first baseman, with Huff in the outfield, to start the season. But after some memorable defensive flubs from Huff and a lackluster start from Belt, the rookie was sent down. When Huff continued not to hit, Belt was called up again, and he was in the majors just long enough to have his hand broken on a Trever Miller fastball.

The injury sidelined Belt for over a month, after which he was activated and sent down to Fresno. At no point did Huff ever come around with the bat. After being activated, Belt hit .324/.477/.706 for triple-A Fresno over a ten-game stretch. His minor-league numbers for his career:

He was expected to be day-to-day, and though he was still too sore to swing a bat, the Giants were expecting to have him back within a week. So it was a surprise, then, when this came through the official SF Giants Twitter feed:

Belt said he was told hairline fracture would heal in a month, but he expects to play before it heals. Timetable up to 3 weeks. Bad news for a rookie who had just recently found his way back into the starting lineup, and whom the Giants were expecting to provide some of the offense that Posey and Sandoval took with them to the disabled list.