Brandon Belt finished his Giants career in the franchise’s top-10 in home runs, doubles and walks. He owns two World Series rings and was a mainstay for 12 seasons.
His credentials are cemented. Yet critics can be stubborn; social media’s rise, undue fan expectations and heightened pressure from the championship era only fed into what became a bizarre polarization colloquially known as “The Belt Wars.”
Belt, the subject of much debate across the Bay Area for over a decade, is no longer in the crosshairs of malcontented Giants fans since he signed a one-year, $9.3 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Belt slammed 29 home runs in 97 games in 2021, but knee issues lingered in 2022, derailing what will likely be his last year in a Giants uniform. San Francisco is scheduled to visit the Blue Jays in late June, but isn’t slated to host Belt. For many, his farewell may be his Opening Day spectacle in which he rode into Oracle Park on a boat.
Known for his plate discipline and remembered for his outsized personality, the lightning rod first baseman no longer requires scrutiny, only appreciation. Because looking back at Belt’s 12-year career with the organization, the only conclusion is that he was one of the most successful Giants ever.
“I think everyone will remember him in their own way,” John Barr, the Giants farm director who led the scouting and drafting of Belt, told KNBR. “I think he was someone who helped us win two World Series championships.”
Since he debuted in 2011, armchair hitting coaches filled up the internet with discourse about Belt, who by no fault of his own became one of the most bandied upon figures in Bay Area sports.
He can’t stay healthy, why doesn’t he hit for more power?, he squares up to bunt for God Knows Why, he’s too passive in the batter’s box, his shoulders are slumping again.
His glove always plays, he makes pitchers grind, he gets on base, he’s a presence in the middle of the order, he’s a true leader.
One aspect that should have never been in question is Belt’s plate discipline. From 2012 to 2021, his on-base percentage was .361 — well above MLB average. He always had a knack for working counts and wearing down opposing pitchers. It’s fitting that his 21-pitch, 13-minute at-bat still holds the record for the longest in MLB history.
When the Giants hired manager Gabe Kapler in 2019, Kapler’s message to Belt was to keep doing what you’ve been doing in the batter’s box. To trust his instincts by picking out pitches he could drive and laying off ones he couldn’t.
“One of the first things I told him when I got here was ‘You are appreciated for exactly what you do,’” Kapler told KNBR this week.
Kapler described Belt’s approach as the right kind of stubbornness. He’s the type of hitter young players should model their games after, the 2021 NL Manager of the Year added.
“Brandon’s a real killer in the batter’s box,” Kapler said. “He is as good as any player that I’ve been around at identifying balls and strikes. And going up there with a plan, understanding the pitches he can do damage on, and the pitches he can’t, and being very disciplined to that approach. Even in the face of people wanting him to be more aggressive. He sticks to the game plan that makes him a great offensive player in Major League Baseball.”
That plate awareness helped Belt post an above average OPS+ every year of his career until his injury-plagued 2022 campaign.
When he had the full support of Kapler’s analytically minded staff, Belt was empirically one of the best hitters alive. From 2020 to 2021, only Juan Soto, Mike Trout and Bryce Harper posted a higher wRC+.
Belt was, sure, frustrating at times. He only had four years with at least 145 games played, plus the shortened 2020 season in which he missed just nine games. He only averaged 14.5 home runs per season, low for a first baseman of his size, and never came close to driving in 100 runs.
But directing too much attention on those relative shortcomings focuses on what he could have done rather than what he did.
“Anybody who doesn’t view Brandon Belt as an extremely positive part of Giants history is missing the point,” KNBR host Brian Murphy, who chronicled Belt’s entire career, said.
Belt never became a Will Clark-level player. Very few do. Even without the same raw numbers, Belt belongs right there with Clark, Willie McCovey, J.T. Snow and Orlando Cepeda as the most important first basemen in Giants history.
Part of Belt’s legacy comes from who he is as a person. He’s confident, but not in a way that rubs off as arrogant. It’s earned.
Belt is the type of athlete who can arrive at the ballpark at noon for a 1 p.m. first pitch and reach base three times.
He dubiously claimed that he’s the fastest swimmer from his East Texas county while correctly asserting he’s probably the greatest 18th inning player ever.
“I’m Mr. 18th inning,” Belt said in 2019 after a game-winning, 18th-inning double. “Right next to Reggie Jackson and Derek Jeter.”
A man of many names, he’d tab himself both The Real Brandon and The Captain. His postgame sessions spanned from “that’s what she said” jokes to more deadpan riffs about hitting the 69th Splash Hit.
It was so easy for those around Belt to root for him, another reason why it’s so confounding he got ragged on from afar like he did.
“It was an honor to be his coach,” longtime Giants coach Tim Flannery tweeted.
“It’s a sad day for me,” broadcaster Mike Krukow said on KNBR. “I love the guy. He’s one of my all-time favorite Giants…I hope he hits 50 home runs in Toronto. I’m going to miss him.”
Belt’s persona truly mattered. In September of San Francisco’s 107-win 2021 season, Belt decided to declare himself captain. He fashioned an electrical tape “C” to his jersey in Wrigley Field, and proceeded to blast a homer with it sticking to his chest.
It was more than just a hilarious moment. Every game was intense, with the Giants having to match the Dodgers win-for-win, day-for-day. Belt’s vibes were necessary.
“I don’t think we could have done that without Brandon’s makeup,” Kapler said. “Without his lightness, without his sense of humor. Without the fun he brought to the ballpark everyday. It was really important.”
Before he became one of the most statistically accomplished fifth-round picks ever, Belt rocketed through the Giants’ farm system. He posted over a 1.000 OPS in both High-A and Double-A and needed just 17 Pacific Coast League games to prove he was ready for the show.
Perhaps that success drove some of the hype, and later frustration, despite Belt not being a top selection.
Belt cried when manager Bruce Bochy informed him he made the team in 2011. It was a storybook start to what began as a tough career, with the team sending him up and down as he struggled in his rookie year. Murphy, the radio host, remembers arguing with callers about Belt as early as then.
Belt wrestled with Brett Pill and Aubrey Huff for the full-time job early. But Belt, nicknamed “Baby Giraffe,” got his feet under him quickly and scampered into Giants lore.
In the 2012 World Series, as a 24-year-old, he tripled off Max Scherzer, starting the scoring in what would become a sweep-securing blowout.
Two years later, he ignited the Giants’ third World Series run with his signature swing: the 18th-inning blast against Washington in the NLDS.
“I’m delirious,” Belt said after that legendary go-ahead shot. “I’m just trying to soak it all in. I don’t even know what to say. I can’t even think straight, to be honest with you.”
And in the biggest moment, Belt — always an underrated fielder — was there to stretch for the pivotal double play turned by Joe Panik and Brandon Crawford. Had he been an inch less aggressive, perhaps the play isn’t overturned and Game 7 goes a different way.
Those plays, not the slinking body language after taking strike three or the flubbed bunts, are the ones that define Belt’s Giants tenure. The championship plays.
Now that Belt’s gone, nearly all of the connective tissue to the three-in-five teams has splintered. From Brian Sabean to Buster Posey and Bruce Bochy, and now Belt, the Giants have lost a lot of championship equity recently.
As Ron Wotus, the longest-tenured coach in Giants history, recently told KNBR, nothing lasts forever. But Belt’s inevitable Wall of Fame plaque will.
