Catcher Buster Posey is the face of the San Francisco Giants. He’s got a National League Rookie of the Year Award and NL MVP trophy in his case, among other accolades. He’s arguably the strongest thread that runs through the team’s trio of recent championships. And he’s an All-Star once again, for good reason.
We say this, then, with no offense intended to Posey: Brandon Belt, the Giants’ other position-player All-Star, is emerging as the team’s offensive leader and one of the key drivers behind San Francisco’s first-half success.
Belt, who is headed to his first Midsummer Classic courtesy of the final fan vote, went 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI in Saturday’s 4-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The victory raised the Giants’ record to an MLB-best 56-33. The “Baby Giraffe,” meanwhile, is the qualified team leader in average (.301) and OPS (.929).
He’s second on the team with 10 homers to Posey’s 11 and second in RBI with 47 to shortstop Brandon Crawford’s 58. And he paces the National League with 27 doubles.
Right fielder Hunter Pence is on the shelf after undergoing hamstring surgery in June, but Belt has capably filled the gap as a middle-of-the-order force (though he may need to work on his inspirational-speech game).
Belt has shown flashes of elite potential since he debuted in 2011. Last season, he hit .280 with a career-best 18 home runs but missed four games with a groin injury in April and suffered a season-ending concussion in September that was still causing him dizziness in November, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Now, he appears fully healthy and ready to join the upper echelon of big league first basemen, particularly when you consider he’s been among the top five defensive players at the position since 2012.
What’s the explanation for Belt’s offensive surge, other than a talented 28-year-old entering his prime?
One notable difference has been plate discipline. Entering play Sunday, Belt had drawn 53 walks, just three shy of his career high.
That’s created a virtuous cycle with his increased pop, as McCovey Chronicles’ Grant Brisbee opined: “His improving patience and power seem to be a feedback loop, with the improved eye leading to better pitches to hit and the better pitches to hit leading to more doubles and homers.”
In May, Belt credited a mechanical adjustment he made at the plate late last season, right before his concussion.
“I’m back to seeing the ball, not guessing,” he said, according to Schulman. “The results are not very good when I guess. For a few years, I was just searching for something to hold on to. I think I’ve found it.”
Much of the attention this season has gone to the top of the Giants rotation, as 2014 World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner owns a 2.09 ERA and winter addition Johnny Cueto is 13-1. Both men are All-Stars, as well they should be, and superlative pitching has been the bedrock of San Francisco’s budding dynasty.
But as Belt joins Posey, Bumgarner and Cueto for the festivities in San Diego, his profile should be on a precipitous rise.
If the Giants do their even-year thing again, Belt will surely be a key reason why. Heck, if he continues at this pace, he could grab a few MVP votes of his own.
All of this makes San Francisco look exceedingly smart for locking Belt into an affordable five-year, $72.8 million extension in April that bought up three seasons of potential free agency.
Alongside Posey, Crawford, second baseman Joe Panik and third baseman Matt Duffy, Belt is part of a homegrown infield core that’s signed or controlled through at least 2020.
With their three Commissioner’s Trophies since 2010, the Giants have come to expect greatness as a matter of course in years divisible by two. Here’s Belt, delivering right on cue.
He’s refined his approach. He’s an All-Star. He’s swinging the biggest stick on the winningest team in baseball.
Whatever the Chinese calendar may insist, we’re dubbing this the Year of the Giraffe.
All statistics courtesy of MLB.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.
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