Aug. 4, 2011
URBAN ARCHIVE
GIANTS PAGEGIANTS VIDEO
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Mychael Urban
CSNBayArea.com
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UPDATE (8:10 PM): The Giants have designated Alex Hinshaw for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants on Thursday made a move that will surely disappoint their legion of Brandon Belt fans by optioning the rookie first basemanoutfielder to Triple-A Fresno, but in doing so they added another stretch-run-tested veteran in activating utilityman Mark DeRosa from the 60-day disabled list.The Giants designated reliever Alex Hinshaw for assignment as a corresponding roster move to create room on the 40-man roster. The move was announced midway through the opener of a four-game series against the visiting Phillies at AT&T Park.URBAN: Five juicy subplots for Giants-Phils
Belt, 23, made the club out of spring training but has been a human yo-yo in the interim. He was batting .218 with two home runs and seven RBIs upon being optioned for the third time this season.Contacted by CSNBayArea.com Thursday evening, he struck a philosophical tone in discussing the most recent bump in his road to being a big-league regular."I'm fine," he said. "I wish it was different and I could play every day, but it's not that way, so I'm going to try to make the best of it until I do get that full-time spot. Hopefully I can use this experience to my advantage, which I'm usually good doing."The advantage for Belt, offered Giants manager Bruce Bochy, is the opportunity again to get regular at-bats. Since his most recent promotion to San Francisco, he'd been used mostly as a pinch-hitter, a role that Bochy noted is extremely difficult for a rookie to master."It's tough for a young guy," Bochy said. "We'd like to see him get back to regular playing time, and he's looking forward to playing again every day."DeRosa, 36, has been limited by wrist injuries to 42 games with the Giants since signing a two-year, 12-million deal as a free agent after the 2009 season. Placed on the 15-day disabled list May 19 and transferred to the 60-day DL June 15, he's been on a rehab assignment in the minors, playing two games with Single-A San Jose and nine with Fresno, batting a combined .307 (12-for-39).Why was DeRosa activated Thursday? In short, he had to be. Players are allowed to be on rehab assignment for a maximum of 20 days and DeRosa's time was up. He recently cleared the final hurdle of playing in consecutive games."He'll be playing everywhere; first base, in particular," Bochy said. "It's good to have him back."
