Blue Jays, former SF Giants first baseman contemplating retirement
Former SF Giants first baseman Brandon Belt might be playing his final season of Major League Baseball with the Toronto Blue Jays. On a recent episode of the Foul Territory podcast, Belt –– a free agent after the season after signing a one-year, $9.3 million deal last winter–– expressed his interest in evaluating his options as a free agent, but admitted he is contemplating hanging up his cleats.
Blue Jays 1B Brandon Belt, a longtime SF Giants slugger, watches a hit. (2023)
“I'm still trying to figure out kind of what I want to do,” Belt said. “I'm 35 this year. I got two boys that are getting older, and it's getting tougher on all of us, for me, when I'm gone all the time. So this is something that I gotta take into consideration and figure out –– whether I want to keep going or go home and be with my family.”
In his first season sporting a new uniform, Belt has been a key factor for a Blue Jays club scrapping for a postseason spot in a crowded American League Wild Card race. Although he’s mashed 15 homers and 22 doubles with a .834 OPS in over 370 plate appearances, the 35-year-old says his future in baseball is still in question.
Despite his success in a stacked lineup, it’s not surprising for Belt to be contemplating walking away from baseball. He’s suffered significant injuries during the course of his career, like numerous concussions, hand injuries, and –– most notably –– a series of knee surgeries that have impacted his mobility. However, Belt says those issues aren’t necessarily the reason for questioning his future.
“I think physically, mentally, as far as baseball goes, I got a lot left in the tank,” Belt said. “I feel like I can go a few more years and play good, productive baseball. I feel like I can be competitive.”
After spending 12 seasons in San Francisco, Belt’s move across the northern border to Toronto surely wasn’t initially a smooth transition. In April, he struggled to adjust at the plate with a .534 OPS. Since May 1, He’s picked up the pace by recording the fourth-best wRC+ (150) among big league first basemen with at least 300 plate appearances. If he wanted to keep playing, Belt ideally would be able to pick up some suitors in a relatively weak free-agent market.
But it appears the toll the game has taken on the two-time World Series champion and his family leaves his big league future in question.
“I love the game of baseball, I love playing baseball, I love being on the field,” Belt continued. “It's a lot of the other stuff that I get tired of; the traveling and being at the field for hours and hours and hours at a time, being away from the family. So it's a lot of stuff I gotta consider this offseason. I'm just not sure where I'm headed yet.”
Belt was drafted by the SF Giants in the fifth round of the 2009 MLB Draft out of the University of Texas at Austin. He skyrocketed through the minor league system and soon played a vital role in San Francisco, winning two World Series rings in 2012 and 2014. Since the Giants moved west in 1958, Belt ranks favorably among the franchise’s top first baseman –– fourth in homers (175), fourth in runs scored (628), fifth in runs batted in (584), and fourth in fWAR (25.2).
