It’s been a tough stretch for Brandon Belt. After his fantastic 2021 season being cut short thanks to a broken hand, Belt struggled through injuries for the entirety of 2022, finally being put on the shelf with a knee issue last month.
The issue has been so hard to deal with that Belt has contemplated retirement after this season, something he reiterated on KNBR Wednesday afternoon.
“Oh yeah, definitely. I think that’s just kind of part of it. If I can’t get my knee back to where it needs to be, then I’m going to be done,” Belt told Tolbert & F.P. “I can’t go back out there and do this same season over again.
“First of all I wasn’t productive, I don’t think. I wasn’t as productive as I wanted to be and it was impossible to be as productive as I wanted to be. It’s not that fun to go out there and play like that when you can’t go out and do what you want to do. I think I’ve shown what I can do the previous two seasons, and I just wasn’t able to do that physically this year.
“So if I can’t get my knee strong and back to where it should be then I’m just going to stay home with my boys and hang out with them.”
Belt has dealt with injuries in the past, but has always remained productive at the plate. That wasn’t the case this year, where Belt posted a career-worst slash line of .213/.326/.350. Still, Belt believes if he can get healthy again he can still contribute a lot.
“It’s not like I’ve been declining over the past four or five seasons and I’ve just been brutal,” Belt continued. “I was really, really productive the previous two years. When my knee is strong that’s what I’m capable of doing and I believe that’s what I will do. I’m not going to come back and grind through a minor league deal or anything like that. It would have to be something that’s going to make it worth it for me to leave my family for another season and I want to win as well.
“There’s a lot of factors that play into it, and it’s hard for me to sit here and pinpoint what it’s got to be. My agent’s going to let me know what the offers are and it’s going to be more like a game-time decision.”
Because Belt is confident in his ability when healthy, he says he’s willing to move onto another organization if the Giants don’t want to bring him back next season.
“Yeah, I would. It’s not first on my list. I love the Giants organization, that’s where I want to play, but I understand this is a business,” Belt said. “I know that’s cliche but it is. They might be ready to move on and that’s part of it. If that’s the case I’d be ready to play somewhere else, but it’s got to be the right situation and there’s a lot of factors that go into it. We’re just going to have to see when the time comes.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Tolbert & Copes weekdays from 2 – 6 p.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.