© Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports, September 12
Don’t expect Brandon Belt to have surgery any time soon. The longtime Giants first baseman – while donning a massive ice pack wrapped around his right knee following the Giants’ 11th-straight loss – said that he intends to finish out the season.
Belt spent time on the 10-day disabled list earlier this season from July 27 to August 14 for a bone bruise in his right knee. Yesterday, Bruce Bochy said yesterday that would likely require offseason surgery for what could be a meniscus problem. Today, Belt said that remains the case.
“I want to play through,” Belt said. “I’m never going to regret going out there and playing. It’s not affecting how I play, so that’s all that matters.”
He said he wasn’t sure exactly what the issue is and has not had tests on the knee, leaving the door open to potentially clean it out arthroscopically in the offseason.
“I think we’ll probably take a closer look at it at the end of the season, figure that out,” Belt said.
While Belt is understated and denied that the injury has affected his play, his numbers have dropped dramatically from earlier in the season when he was nearly an All-Star and batted consistently over .300 from late April through mid-July. After Wednesday’s loss, his average is down to .255, a decline that is likely attributable, at least in part, to his knee injury.