Belt (knee) to undergo season-ending surgery

SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants first baseman Brandon Belt will have season-ending arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage in his right knee, the club announced on Friday. The procedure will be performed Saturday in San Francisco by Dr. Ken Akizuki.

Belt, 34, has been hampered on and off by right knee issues since 2015, when he had surgery to repair a torn meniscus. He had another procedure in '18 to repair cartilage in the knee. Inflammation in the knee sidelined him earlier this season, and resulted in another placement on the injured list last week.

“It’s obviously disappointing for Brandon and for all of us,” manager Gabe Kapler said Friday. “We’ve been trending in this direction. Brandon has fought it so hard and wanted to be out there for his teammates and for all of us. We just weren’t able to get over the hump.”

It's unclear whether Belt, due to be a free agent after this season, will return next year or call it a career. Belt told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic that he will see how the knee responds following the operation before determining whether he will play in 2023.

"It's just going to depend. I'm going to play next year if I can get my knee healthy and strong again," Belt told NBC Sports Bay Area. "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."

One of San Francisco's homegrown stars in the early 2010s, Belt helped the Giants win two World Series titles in 2012 and '14, along with Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, Madison Bumgarner, Tim Lincecum and others under manager Bruce Bochy. Belt made his MLB debut in 2011, and in 12 Major League seasons, he's slashed .261/.356/.458 (123 OPS+) with 175 home runs.

Belt, now the longest-tenured Giant, was only getting better as he neared his mid-30s, but the knee and other injuries -- including a fractured left thumb late last season when he was hit by a pitch on a bunt attempt -- have limited his playing time. From the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign through last year, Belt posted a .988 OPS with 38 homers in 148 games. This season, his OPS was more than 300 points lower, at .676.

“I think it was especially challenging,” Kapler said of Belt’s chronic knee issue. “The reason it was challenging is because when you’re in pain every day, it’s not just about the physical issues that you’re having on the field. It has a real cascading effect on your mental health. Banged up all the time, it kind of makes you feel bummed all the time. Bummed all the time, it’s really hard to ramp your body up to train really hard. There’s just like a real ripple effect to all of that. He just hasn’t had a blow at any point since Spring Training, to be honest with you. It’s been a grind.”

Beyond his regular-season contributions, Belt has delivered some big hits in the postseason for the Giants, including a go-ahead homer that proved to be the difference in a 2-1, 18-inning victory in Game 2 of the 2014 National League Division Series against the Nationals. San Francisco went on to win its third World Series title in five years later that month.

With Belt out for the final month of the regular season, the Giants will lean on LaMonte Wade Jr., Wilmer Flores and J.D. Davis to help fill the void at first base. The Giants will likely be aiming to get younger this offseason after a disappointing 2022 campaign -- they entered Friday in fourth place in the National League West with a 61-68 record -- but there could be mutual interest in a reunion with Belt if he shows he can bounce back from his third knee surgery and still be productive.

Kapler, for his part, said he’d love to see Belt back in a Giants uniform in 2023.

“I think what should give him optimism is the track record,” Kapler said. “It’s just a very consistent offensive player. Even the days that he clearly is in physical pain, he clearly doesn’t have it, it’s still a pretty grindy at-bat. You feel like he’s going to make really good swing decisions. The experience at first base, the ability to put a throw on the bag at second base to turn a double play -- when he’s right, he’s one of the better first basemen around the game.”