Giants veteran Brandon Belt enjoyed one of his better statistical seasons in 2020, setting career-highs in batting average (.309), slugging (.591) and on base percentage (.425). What came next was an offseason straight from the depths of Hell. First, the 32-year-old went under the knife for surgery on his injured heel. Shortly after that, he came down with the coronavirus, battling symptoms for the better part of a month.
“I didn’t have any symptoms at first until I reached the end of my quarantine,” said Belt, describing the ordeal to Kerry Crowley of the San Jose Mercury News. “I started feeling really winded, really light-headed, really dizzy and lost all energy after about 10 minutes of working out.”
Then, after finally overcoming COVID, Belt was met by yet another obstacle—mono. The illness hit him like a ton of bricks. “I was in bed most of the day, a good majority of the day except for maybe an hour or two,” said Belt, who recalls being bedridden for over a week following his mono diagnosis. “Then once I got over the sickness part, it was pretty tough to get over the weakness I had and the lack of stamina, lack of energy, lack of strength.”
Belt is feeling much better now—he took batting practice Friday at the team’s spring training facility in Scottsdale—though the former All-Star isn’t a lock for Opening Day in three weeks. “It was a long ordeal, obviously wasn’t that fun, but right now I feel like I’m getting back on track,” said Belt, who is scheduled to earn $16 million before hitting free agency in 2022. “I don’t know if I’ll make Opening Day but I’m going to try my hardest to get there.” Darin Ruf, Joey Bart and even catcher Buster Posey could be candidates to fill the void at first base if Belt’s absence stretches into the regular season.
It’s been a bizarre year for all of us, but even by pandemic standards, the embattled Giants first baseman really took it on the chin this winter.
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