Belt learns how to line up his knuckles, Giants lose a squeaker

One of the more interesting discussions to come out of the Giants loss yesterday was about the re-making of Brandon Belt's grip on the bat. This is a major league hitter, who besides the Giants farm system, has been through a major Division I baseball program and likely some elite youth and HS programs and coaches, and we are going back to something that coaches try to ingrain into 8-9 year olds and T-Ball graduates? 

Simply mind-boggling. 

I see where the article says the Giants have been "trying" to get him to change, but for whatever reason Belt has been reluctant to change, but it is still incredible that we are going back to the basics like this with a major league hitter. 

from mercurynews.com:

POSTGAME NOTES: Rays get Brandoned; Bumgarner keeps learning; Zito reacts to bullpen decision | Giants Extra:

There was more to the Philadelphia benching than just a mental break, or Brett Pill’s hot streak. The coaching staff spent three days with Belt, changing his location in the batter’s box and the way he grips the bat. The result: Belt came to the plate in the ninth inning a double short of the cycle.

Was he thinking about it?

“I didn’t NOT think about it,” Belt said, smiling.

Belt grounded out to second but still ended up with one of his best games of the season. It was an encouraging sign after three days of extra work in the cage. Belt has moved back in the box, allowing him to see pitches a bit longer. He also adjusted his grip, removing a “tendency to wrap a little bit,” Bochy said.

The Giants have long urged Belt to make adjustments and Bochy said he was pleased that Belt is “all-in” this time. Belt said part of that came after he went 1 for 19 at the end of the homestand. But you can bet that the coaching staff believes Pill’s presence has helped.

 'via Blog this'

Here's some advice that we use down at the lower levels with the little guys.

from efastball.com:
http://www.efastball.com/hitting/how-to-grip-the-bat-knuckle-alignment/

This is another confusing topic in a baseball swing. 

Most recommmend lining up the "door knocking knuckles". Some align the "big knuckles" or "punching knuckles". And yet others "line up the rings". We will explore the pros and cons of each version and give you the correct alignment. 

Big Knuckles
aka Punching Knuckles

Door Knocking Knuckles
aka Middle Knuckles

Line Up the Rings
aka Box Grip
aka Offset Grip

Advocates for Using Door Knocking Knuckles

Here is Alex Rodriguez talking to Good Morning America:

One thing all good hitters should always do is you should always put your knuckles together - all eight of them - should be lined up together that will create better whip and better bat speed. even though he doesn't use this knuckle alignment - see picture

I agree with Grant on this one in terms of 'consistency'. That's all you can ask for out of an umpire. Do I think that Joe West is a bit of a hot-dog or a showboat with little tolerance for debate? Yes. Do I think he's a 'homer' who changes his strike-zone to suit the crowd? No. There are betting sites that keep track of just such data to look for an edge and there are four or five others in the league who score higher than West last time I checked.

The Giants announcers do an early game analysis of the plate umpire. Almost like a scouting report really. I think most teams nowadays do keep a "book" on umpires as well. So maybe that is part of the developing "book" on Joe West, I'm just not sure the raw data bears this out at this point.

David Price just jams the ball through the strike zone very consistently and has been doing that for over a month now. And he's been doing with guys not named Joe West as the home plate umpire. So tip your cap to him.


from the McCovey Chronicles:
http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2013/8/3/4586548/giants-hang-with-rays-until-they-cant-david-price-tim-lincecum-astro-price-farts-alot

And Joe West.

Sweet, cholesterol-clogged Joe West and his strike zone of ???.

I'm not keen to write about umpires, #umpshow, or robot umpires. I will say that I can *appreciate* the human element, but only to a point. The dividing line comes down to inconsistency. Fine. You don't want to call the regulation strike zone that night but you call it consistent for both teams -- I can deal with that. Do as Mike Krukow suggests and have a zone for the home team and a zone for the away team and I lose my pants (in anger).

Aggravating an entire team feels completely wrong and far outside the bounds of "the human element". It's called being a jerk.

All is not lost with this loss, but it was disappointing because the game was there to be taken, setting up a sweep.  The Giants at 45-55 need to go 20-10 for August to get to .500 and the 20-10 for September to get to 85-75 with two games left. Win those and I think you should get in the playoffs, although it may likely be the play-in game.

Right now the Dodgers are hot, home and road ( the mark of a good, solid team ) and they are top five in hitting and pitching ( a sign of a well-balanced squad ), so the Giants have their hands full. But this is the bed they made for themselves in the first half, now they have to lie in it.


UPDATE:
From the Mercury News:

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/giants/2013/08/06/tuesdays-new-lineup-same-as-mondays-new-lineup/

–On Brandon Belt’s modifications: “I’m really pleased that he’s sticking with the adjustments. It’s not easy during the season to try to hit major league pitching when you’ve made a couple of adjustments. They’re not real small ones, either. Changing the grip in your bat a little bit is going to feel different, but he’s staying with it. Then you look at what he’s done. He had the big game in Tampa and he swung the bat well (Monday) night (three hits). I’m happy he’s having some success with this. It makes it easier for him to stick with this, and get to the next level.”