Brandon Belt’s season, and possibly his career as a Giant, is over.
The 12-year veteran will undergo knee surgery Saturday morning with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kenneth Akizuki, a source told KNBR. The news comes as the Giants (61-68) are 10.5 games out of playoff contention with 32 games remaining.
NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic was the first to report news of Belt’s decision. Belt told Pavlovic that the rest of his baseball career could depend on how his right knee responds to the operation.
Belt’s 2022 season ended, just like in 2021, in Coors Field. His last game of the year, and perhaps ever, came on Aug. 20 in Denver.
While they had parallel conclusions, the past two seasons couldn’t be any different for Belt. Last year, he powered a Giants lineup that broke the franchise record for home runs and won 107 games. This year, chronic knee injuries surfaced and limited to the lowest batting average (.213) and OPS (.676) of his career. He hit just eight home runs in 78 games.
Belt, “The Captain,” rode into the season through the Oracle Park outfield wall on a boat and is washing up out of it as the team’s season has sunk.
“Brandon, it’s just a really tough season for him,” Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said on KNBR this week. “Personally, I just don’t think he looked right all year. There were times that you could tell the knee was bothering him more and there were times when it was less obvious. But I really think it impacted him all season.”
Belt was one of the best first baseman, and hitters overall, in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. In that span, he posted a 163 wRC+, behind only Juan Soto and Bryce Harper among qualified hitters.
But sporadic, untimely injuries have cropped up throughout his career. He’s had multiple surgeries on his right knee before this one and he got it drained at least three times as inflammation hampered his age-34 season. Issues with the cartilage in his right knee intensified this spring training and never abated; Dr. Timothy McAdams recommended surgery earlier this week.
Since the Giants signed him to the one-year qualifying offer last winter, Belt will become a free agent at year’s end.
When he hit the injured list for what’s now his season-ending injury, he told The San Francisco Chronicle that it’s hard not to think about how his knee might factor into his baseball future.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen — I try not to put too much thought into it,” Belt told The Chronicle. “But yeah, I mean, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about what happens if I’m not able to bounce back. But I don’t like thinking about it, because it’s kind of upsetting.”
Meanwhile, Zaidi said “I would imagine that (Belt) has some plans to play next year,” but didn’t know for certain.
If Belt does retire, he’ll have played his entire MLB career with the Giants. He won World Series rings in 2012 and 2014 and ranks in the top-10 in franchise history in home runs, walks, strikeouts and extra base hits. He played 1,310 games in orange and black, eighth-most in club history.