SAN FRANCISCO -- Brandon Belt carried the Giants last September before a fractured thumb ended his season with a few games remaining. It's looking more and more likely that he won't play for them at all this September.
Belt got a second opinion on his sore right knee on Tuesday morning from Dr. Timothy McAdams of Stanford Medicine. He was told that surgery is likely needed. Manager Gabe Kapler said Belt would meet with his agent and go through the next steps. If he does opt for surgery, which would be his third one on that knee, his season would be over.
"We're going to do what's best for the Giants and for Brandon," Kapler said.
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Belt first had knee surgery in 2015 to repair a torn meniscus. Three years later, he went under the knife again to have his meniscus cleaned up and cartilage repaired. Kapler said Dr. McAdams saw the same cartilage issue that Giants doctors have identified, one that has bothered Belt all season.
The first baseman missed 23 games earlier in the year with right knee inflammation and went back on the IL last week. Belt has had the knee drained multiple times going back to spring training. He has been compromised when on the field and has put up some of the worst numbers of his career in 78 appearances. Belt's .326 on-base percentage is his lowest since 2014 and he has just eight homers a year after hitting a career-high 29.
Even if Belt opts against surgery, it is hard to see a situation where it makes sense for him to return to the field this season. The Giants are 8 1/2 games out of the third and final Wild Card spot with 35 games to go.
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Belt, 34, is a free agent at the end of the season, and now faces an uncertain future. Tuesday's update was not unexpected, though.
"At some degree or another we all knew that at some point -- whether that was after the season or at this stage in it -- this was a possibility," Kapler said.