Giants first baseman Brandon Belt will undergo season-ending surgery on his right knee tomorrow, he tells Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. The club informed reporters earlier in the week that surgery had been recommended, and the 34-year-old indeed decided to go under the knife after taking a couple days to deliberate.
Belt has been on the injured list a few times this season due to inflammation in that knee. This is far from the first year in which the joint has proven bothersome, as Belt has twice previously undergone surgery and had it drained on multiple occasions. In a forthright chat with Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle last week, the 12-year MLB veteran acknowledged the knee could be problematic for the rest of his career.
During his interview with the Chronicle, Belt seemed to imply he could retire entirely if the knee injury were especially damaging. Speaking with Pavlovic today, however, he stated he intends to continue playing if he’s able. “It’s just going to depend. I’m going to play next year if I can get my knee healthy and strong again,” Belt said. “Last time I had this surgery (in 2015), I responded really well to it. That’s what I’m anticipating … If I can get it strong like I did (in 2015) then I’ll play, but if not then I’m not going to go out there and be substandard all the time. We’ll just have to see.”
Belt’s production has taken a huge hit this season, one of the reasons for the Giants inability to replicate last year’s 107-win campaign. Through 298 plate appearances, he hit only .213/.326/.350 with eight home runs. Belt’s just a season removed from blasting 29 longballs, but his hard contact rate has fallen more than six percentage points from last year’s 44.8% mark. It’s hard to imagine the persistent knee issues weren’t playing some role in those struggles, considering he mashed at a .285/.393/.595 clip between 2020-21.
It’s nevertheless tough to know what one can expect from Belt moving forward given his age and injury history. The career-long Giant is headed for free agency this offseason. Belt is making $18.4MM this year after accepting a qualifying offer last November, but he’ll certainly be facing a paycut during this trip to the open market.
Smart move. Guy had pirate legs.
He kneeded it
Let go Brandon
An injury below the Belt
Career ending
Time to rebuild. Trade Webb to the Braves.
They are rebuilding. Lol
Mr Belt: The bubble has burst and the Giants will not contend during any MLB seasons you may feel you have left in your tank, whether those be with the Giants or another team.
Time to walk off into the sunset while you can still walk !!
I believe that out of all the big contracts that Bobby Evans handed out, Brandon Belt’s was by far the worst. I feel sad just reading that he is being paid $18.4 million this year, as I had basically blocked it out of my mind – so it’s safe to say Brandon is laughing/hobbling all the way to the bank. I look forward to him being a forever Giant and seeing him on the field in future pregame ceremonies- primarily as it would mean he is no longer on the team. On a side note, if anyone watched the Will Clark pregame ceremony in July, Clark spoke about how he loved to run out every ground ball and pop out…and not more than 30 minutes later Belt hits a popup in the infield with runners on base, and he was already walking back to the dugout before the ball was even caught. I feel like that was an easy way of the baseball Gods showing us the difference between Belt and Clark in one quick moment. (Clark had plenty of injuries as well, so no excuses of at least running in the direction of first base).
13.9 fwar for $79m is a steal by any metric. Don’t care if he runs out pop outs. You’re way off base.
Wow…some steal…..fwar, smeshwar……8/23/.213 for $18.4 million isn’t by any means a steal which was the point…..and you’re way off base…..metrics were created to make a lousy player look good…..you just need to trust your eyes rather than Sabermetrics………
belts been a solid player, even arguably an elite one the two years prior to this one, but im praying they move on from him this offseason. need someone who can stay in the lineup
Sad to see all the piling on here. Belt has been a great Giant, and one who has always put the team first. Hopefully he can come back from the surgery. He could profile well as a DH in the future if he can still mash. He’s also one of the most disciplined hitters I’ve ever watched play the game. His streakiness can be frustrating, but I don’t think the Giants have anything to regret in all the years they’ve had him manning 1B.
Very sad !
Good luck to Brandon. Still prepared to do the work. He must love it. Respect.
Belt’s career kind of reminds of Grady Sizemore’s. Both tremendously talented and would probably be in HOF chatter had they both not been by the injury bug constantly throughout their careers. He’s been one of my favorite players.
^bitten
Belt has already had fans on his case. He was a major reason they won 107 games last year. With his bat in the lineup, it is fair to assume the Giants beat the Dodgers in last year’s playoffs. Why can’t we let a solid Giant ride off in the sunset with a few accolades. Would be the classy thing to do.
Good call jints. He’s a 2x World Series Champion too, lest anyone forgets.
If the Giants get Belt then the Dodgers get Muncy and still win that series
If the infield shift is BANNED then Belt stock surely rises with half a knee
Mark my words Belt is going to be a Giant next year. a long with Yaz. Very sad.
Giants were counting the days until his contract ended. Then a good season and Farhan gives him the QO. One last expensive lost season unless SF decides to throw more money at him
He should give us a free year next year…
He doesn’t need the money and if he wants to play -,he can play on our team for free
I thought giving Brandon Belt that qualifying offer was a bit too much considering his history and that his best season wasn’t even that good. I always wondered how he kept his starting job. He and Evan Longoria and their large contracts will be gone after this season. They better hope Brandon Crawford and Tommy La Stella improve over this season. I fear they are making a mistake trying to extend Joc Pederson
As a brewer fan, he killed us! Good career! Playing in a lot of pain. I hope your surgery goes well! Good Luck and God Bless!
And this was gonna be the year he put it all together!
For 12 years, we Giant fans had to listen to the same predictions of “this is the year!” for Belt.
Never happened, and surely never will at this point.
The Giants had a better winning percentage when he wasn’t in the lineup. They should have traded him a few years back when the rest of the league still believed the hype.
Overpaid, overrated, constantly hurt. Let’s finally move on from this guy.