DENVER — Brandon Belt has had an answer for whatever pitchers toss his way this year. Fastballs, sliders, up in the zone, down and away, hitter’s counts, pitcher’s counts.
It hasn’t mattered. On a per-at-bat basis, Belt, 33, has been one of the most prolific power-hitters in MLB this season. “The Captain” has hit a home run once every 11.1 at-bats, on average. That’s more frequently than MLB-leaders Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (12.45) and Salvador Perez (12.78) and on par with MVP frontrunners Shohei Ohtani (11.33) and Fernando Tatis Jr. (11.02).
His two home runs against the Rockies Saturday that tied, then set the franchise record for homers in a season continued a torrent pace for the 11-season veteran. He’s hit eight of his career-high 29 home runs in the last 14 games, spanning back to Sept. 10 when he played with an electrical tape “C” on his chest. But he doesn’t think these last two weeks are catching fire.
“To me, it’s more than a hot streak,” Belt said. “It’s just being resilient in my approach and not giving in. Sticking with it all season until I was able to finally stay with it consistently from game-to-game.”
Belt knows how pitchers try to approach him; they’ve always tried to keep the ball high in the zone. His uppercut swing lends itself to barreling pitches around his knees — his slugging percentage at the middle and bottom of the strike zone is .833, per Baseball Savant. Pitchers can’t miss there.
Belt has noticed this strategy over the years, and has put together an approach this year to counter it. He’s über patient at the plate, hardly ever swinging at balls outside of the zone. He’s in the 94th percentile in chase rate and 93rd percentile in barrel rate, indicating a rare combination of discipline and aggression.
And pitchers can’t stay high and above the strike zone forever — he waits for a mistake below the letters to pounce.
“It’s no secret,” Belt said. “Everybody knows what I hit well and what I don’t hit well. They’re going to try to expose that as much as possible. But I think I’m just going to try to be ready when they don’t hit their spots and don’t execute…they’re definitely going up in the zone, but for me to do well in that situation is just to be ready when they don’t hit their spots.”
Both his home runs Saturday came on pitches in the middle third of the plate. The first was a 95.4 mph fastball, the second was an 86.5 mph slider. Both were the only hittable pitches he saw.
Belt missed about six weeks with a knee injury in July, but said that time off may have helped him regain strength in his lower body. Manager Gabe Kapler said he thinks his slugger looks healthy and his lower-half is “firing really well,” allowing him to whistle his bat through the zone and stay on time.
When asked about what he thought of Belt when he managed against him for the Phillies, Kapler said he always knew he was fearless at the plate.
“From afar, I thought he was kind of a badass in the batter’s box,” Kapler said. “Just a guy that really understood the strike zone and was dangerous every time he walked up to the plate. And I think those beliefs have been reinforced.”
The hitter Kapler saw, though, is different from the one performing for the 2021 Giants. Belt’s previous career-high for home runs in a season was 18. He’s had 18 since coming off the injured list Aug. 5. Three of Belt’s eight career multi-home run games have come in 2021.
This year piggybacks off last year’s shortened season, when he smacked nine in 51 games en route to a career-high on-base percentage (.425). The Belt Kapler has managed is an elite presence in the middle of SF’s order.
It’s hard to believe after the past two seasons, but Belt hasn’t always been a fan-favorite. Now, he has veteran scribes declaring the Belt Wars over. Wave the white flags.