Former SF Giants star throws down the gauntlet in All-Star voting
Former SF Giants first baseman Brandon Belt is thriving in his first season with the Toronto Blue Jays. On only his second big-league team, Belt has been one of the few offensive bright spots, slashing .263/.378/.434, better rate stats than Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Matt Chapman. He's doing so well that he's second in the fan vote for the starting designated hitter for the American League in the All-Star Game. He's behind a guy you may have heard of Shohei Ohtani.
Belt does only trail the Los Angeles Angels superstar by six points of on-base percentage. And just 198 points of slugging percentage, 20 home runs, and 42 RBI. But when it comes to leadership, let's just say no one has seen Ohtani with a totally real-looking "C" on his chest.
Ohtani may be an MVP, but Belt displays the kind of leadership you can only get with true charisma, access to electrical tape, and a nautical-themed costume shop. Belt is such a leader that he even inspires athletes on other teams in completely different sports to follow his lead.
While Ohtani's pitching shouldn't affect the vote for the designated hitter spot - the whole point of the DH is that a pitcher isn't in the lineup - Captain Belt was confident he could do better than Ohtani on the mound as well.
Belt's leadership has even inspired his teammates to the top of the All-Star voting themselves. Guerrero, Matt Chapman, and Bo Bichette are all in first place at their respective positions, with Whit Merrifield in second place among second basemen. Outfielders Kevin Kiermaier and George Springer are fifth and sixth.
Clearly, fans stuffing the ballot boxes for Belt are also listing his teammates as a courtesy to him. Belt has experience winning these sorts of contests, making the 2016 All-Star team after winning the Esurance Final Vote.
Ohtani leads Belt by 1,387,257 votes, so he does have a little bit of work ahead of him, if he wants to convince voters to elect a DH with four home runs to the Midsummer Classic.
But Brandon Belt needs the boost an unlikely All-Star selection might provide. After all, the closest Olive Garden for the longtime SF Giants star in Toronto is all the way across the border in Niagara Falls.
(This piece, like Belt's original quote, is sarcastic)
