Brandon Belt considering retirement following the 2023 season
By Cam Lewis
7 months agoThis season might be Brandon Belt’s final hurrah.
The veteran slugger appeared on an episode of the Foul Territory podcast on Thursday and was asked about going into free agency again this winter.
“I think I might have a few more options next year, but I am getting on up there in age, so it might turn a lot of people off, but I’m still trying to figure out kinda 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 when I’m gone all the time.“This something I gotta take into consideration and figure out whether I want to keep going or go home and be with my family.”
Belt joined the Blue Jays in the 0ff-season on a one-year, $9.3 million contract. He had spent his entire 12-year big league career with the San Francisco Giants before the team opted to let him walk last winter. Belt’s 2022 season ended in August because of a knee injury and he finished the year with a .213 batting average and a .676 OPS.
The Blue Jays saw Belt as a bounce-back candidate coming off of knee surgery and their gamble paid off. Belt struggled mightily through the month of April but has arguably been Toronto’s best hitter since. He’s slashed a .250/.369/.465 line with 15 home runs and 22 doubles and has a team-leading .901 OPS since May.
Belt made his debut with the Giants in 2011 and was their full-time first baseman when they won the World Series in 2012. San Francisco again won the World Series in 2014 but Belt hasn’t been in the playoffs since the Giants lost in the NLDS to the Chicago Cubs in 2016.
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