San Francisco Giants: 3 Up and 3 Down from Week 3

Brandon Belt sustained a couple of injures last season. Of course, Belt needs to hit his quota of one freak injury per year, and 2018 did not disappoint. He needed an emergency appendectomy, and never fully recovered after the procedure.

Yet again, he appears to be healthy this spring. He is batting .370 with a 1.045 OPS including 2 home runs. He had a titanic home run last week.

On Friday, he used his secret weapon: Laying down a bunt against the shift. It is an easy way to get a hit, and get on-base. He begins every year saying he will bunt more against the shift, and every year it seems he does not use it enough. There are hits to be had by bunting against the shift, and maybe this is the season Belt uses that approach even more.

And, maybe this is the season Belt remains healthy.

Trevor Gott has really pitched well this spring. Gott possesses a power fastball, and complements this with a curveball.

Gott was claimed off of waivers just last month, and is out of options. At the time, it seemed like Farhan Zaidi would claim him as a way to get him in to the organization and try to sneak him through waivers to build organizational inventory.

However, Gott has made a solid case to make the opening day roster. Keeping him is easier said than done as the Giants bullpen is flush with options.

Gott has recorded 11 strikeouts in 8.2 innings while yielding no runs. This includes an extra inning game in which he came in with the runner starting the inning at 2nd base, and did not allow that runner to score.

Lastly, Steven Vogt has had a nice spring. He missed the 1st week of Spring Training as he continued to recover from shoulder surgery.

He still has not played an official Spring Training game behind the dish, but he has played a couple of minor league games at the position. He should get some time at catcher within the next week. He was brought in to be a catcher, so this is an important step in his rehab process.

With that being said, the shoulder does not seem to be affecting his hitting. In a very small sample of 12 at-bats, Vogt has done quite a bit of damage. He has 6 hits and 2 RBI as well as 2 walks. These are all positive signs for a player who underwent shoulder surgery in the past year.