Brandon Belt is having a career year, but will SF Giants bring him back in 2022?

SAN FRANCISCO — Before Farhan Zaidi and Gabe Kapler even arrived in San Francisco, the 2021 season was designed to be the end of Brandon Belt’s tenure in a Giants uniform.

When Belt signed a six-year, $79 million extension in the early days of the 2016 season, his contract was structured to end at the same time as Brandon Crawford’s, who had signed a six-year extension only five months before Belt agreed to his deal.

The timing also coincided with the final guaranteed year of Buster Posey’s contract, which highlighted the efforts of the Giants’ front office to set up a passing of the torch from a highly successful homegrown core to the next generation of talent.

A previous regime led by executives Brian Sabean and Bobby Evans was determined to keep Belt, Crawford and Posey together for a decade, but the Giants also understood the day would eventually come for a new era to begin.

Thanks to a stunning resurgence from the trio and a Giants team that has secured its first postseason berth since 2016, the start of that era has been delayed.

Crawford agreed to a two-year, $32 million extension in August and there’s now a realistic possibility the Giants exercise Posey’s $22 million team option for the 2022 season. Belt, the Giants’ leading home run hitter who is in the midst of what’s easily the best season of his career, is surprisingly the only member of the group whose future remains largely uncertain.

With the 2021 regular season winding down, Belt has reiterated his desire to remain in San Francisco.

“This has been home for me for 10 years and I’d love to hang around,” Belt said. “I’d love to be a Giant.”

Zaidi and general manager Scott Harris have publicly acknowledged their goal of keeping the core of the Giants’ roster intact and have indicated they’re weighing the possibility of extending several players, but like Posey, Belt says his contract discussions are, “probably more of an after the season type of thing.”

With 25 home runs in 88 games this year, it could make sense for the 33-year-old to test the free agent waters to see what kind of interest he would draw on the open market. The Giants’ front office doesn’t comment on contract negotiations, but when asked if he believes Belt can continue to perform at a high level moving forward, Kapler made it clear there’s a resounding sense of internal confidence in the veteran first baseman.

“I actually think he can get better,” Kapler said Thursday. “He’s a well-rounded of a hitter as there is out there and I think the power is getting better. I think his bat is moving through the zone better than it has in years past. I think he’s more confident. Ultra-competitive.”

Since Kapler succeeded Bruce Bochy, Belt has been one of the top five hitters in the majors by several metrics. Belt’s 158 weighted runs created plus (wRC+), a stat that measures runs created and adjusts for external factors such as ballpark and era, ranks third behind only Juan Soto (170) and Bryce Harper (164) among players with at least 500 plate appearances over the last two seasons.

Belt’s .970 OPS since the starting of 2020 places him fifth behind Soto, Harper and two of the game’s electric young stars, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Fernando Tatís Jr.

The biggest difference for Belt over the past two years is a power surge, as he’s posted the fifth-lowest groundball rate among players with at least 500 plate appearances while homering in a career-best 7.4% of his plate appearances. At an age when most hitters are regressing, Belt believes he’s only improving.

“I feel like I’m really coming into my prime now,” Belt said. “I feel like I have an idea of what I want to do at the plate and I’ve been able to be very successful the past couple of years doing it. For me, I feel like I’m coming into my best years and I definitely want to keep going as much as possible.”

In Kapler’s first spring training with the Giants, he called Belt an “assassin” in the batter’s box and seemingly went overboard in his assessment of what the left-handed slugger could do for the team’s lineup. Through the first nine seasons of his career, Belt often drew criticism from Giants fans for taking too many called strikes, for hitting the injured list on a frequent basis and for failing to provide the type of consistent power other major league first basemen offered their teams.

The confidence Kapler and Giants hitting coaches Donnie Ecker, Justin Viele and Dustin Lind have instilled in Belt has helped him inch closer to realizing his full potential, but as Kapler said ahead of Thursday’s series finale against the Padres, the organization believes Belt can make an even greater impact moving forward.

“He’s a super smart hitter and I just think the world of him as a baseball player,” Kapler said. “Not only do I think he can keep this up, but I think he can get better and do it for a long time.”

Given his recent play, keeping Belt in a Giants uniform might require a larger financial commitment than the front office initially anticipated. Considering how much Belt has meant to the 2021 club’s success and how confident both Kapler and Belt are in his future abilities, it’s difficult to envision the relationship between the Giants and their long-time first baseman ending anytime soon.