With Tyler Austin in fold, Giants temporarily move Brandon Belt to left field

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SAN FRANCISCO -- In 2017, one of Brandon Belt's favorite fun facts about himself was that he was worth one Defensive Run Saved in 12 innings in the outfield the year before, the result of a nice running catch he made during a cameo.

It turns out there was a sequel.

"I had an outfield assist last year," Belt pointed out Monday afternoon. 

There is no lack of confidence, either from the first baseman or the Giants' organization, about Belt's ability to move around, despite the fact that he didn't do any work in the outfield this spring. Less than two weeks into the season, the Giants acquired a player with similar experience. 

"I'm going to be honest with you," Tyler Austin said, smiling. "I played zero outfield this spring."

Farhan Zaidi and Bruce Bochy plan to put their new right-handed bat in left, but on a day when Austin flew across the country to get to Oracle Park in time to be in the lineup, the feeling was that he could use familiarity. So Austin is at first and Belt is in left, and that could continue at least the rest of this series. The Giants face three left-handed starters and Austin could start against all three. 

"In the short term, this kind of made the most sense," Zaidi said. "He's going to be over there (at first) until he reaches some level of comfort with the outfield."

[RELATED: Tyler Austin fills one big hole in Giants' lineup]

That shouldn't take long. Austin has just 36 innings of outfield experience in the big leagues but said he played a lot of right field in the minors and played left field in the Arizona Fall League two consecutive years. 

"He's a pretty good athlete," Zaidi said. "He's an average runner. His sprint speeds are right around league average, and the guy just got on a flight this morning and made his way out here, so we figured we would try to minimize some of the variability by putting him in a spot he's most comfortable with."

The Giants have tried to add versatility to their roster, and you will surely see Belt back at first in the late innings, with Gerardo Parra in left. The rest of the time, both first basemen will benefit from Zaidi's previous move. There's not nearly as much ground to cover in left with Kevin Pillar and Steven Duggar in the other two spots. 

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