Through the 2023 MLB season, 212 completely different place gamers got here to the plate not less than 400 occasions. From that group, 35 gamers turned free brokers sooner or later throughout the offseason.
There have been the large, splashy names who garnered loads of consideration as the new range burned, from Shohei Ohtani’s weird saga to Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman having to settle for contracts lower than what they had been anticipating. The center class of gamers discovered their short-term offers, whether or not it was productive contributors like Kevin Kiermaier and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. staying put or veterans Joc Pederson and Carlos Santana discovering new alternatives of their late thirties. Even guys who stunk final season from that aforementioned group of 35 obtained pillow contracts to attempt to rebound, chief amongst them former batting champion Tim Anderson.
There is just one participant from the 35 who has not signed a contract since hitting free company all these months in the past: Brandon Belt. The longtime San Francisco Giants first baseman had signed a one-year deal for 2023 to primarily DH with the Toronto Blue Jays, however after serving to them safe a Wild Card spot final 12 months, they elected to interchange him with one other former All-Star in Justin Turner. That’s truthful sufficient. Nevertheless, all 29 different MLB groups have additionally handed on signing Belt, and that has remained the case because the 2024 calendar flipped to Could.
The typical baseball fan would possibly hear Belt’s title and assume, “Effectively, he was an enormous a part of these Giants championship groups within the early 2010s, and that was lengthy sufficient in the past that he’s most likely simply not superb anymore.”
Right here’s the bizarre factor, although: the person can nonetheless mash! In 2023, Belt batted .254/.369/.490 with 23 doubles and 19 homers in 404 plate appearances (PA). The favored FanGraphs metric Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) measures a participant’s whole offensive worth compared to league common whereas additionally adjusting for park results. Final 12 months, Belt missed a while in June and September with hamstring irritation and again spasms—not unusual for guys of their mid-thirties, of which there are lots of across the league—however on the entire, he had a 138 wRC+ in 103 video games, that means that he was 38-percent higher than the common hitter.
Keep in mind how 212 completely different gamers reached 400 PA in 2024? Simply 14 had the next wRC+ than Belt, and solely the world-class Ohtani had him beat among the many 35 free brokers.
When you’re a fan of even nerdier stats, Belt additionally completed above the ninetieth percentile in barrel fee, sweet-spot proportion, chase fee, and stroll fee per Baseball Savant. He can nonetheless sq. ‘em up and ship ‘em out to all fields, even in opposition to the likes of highly-regarded starters Zack Wheeler, Kyle Bradish, and Logan Gilbert.
It’s disingenuous to say that Belt was point-blank the Fifteenth-best hitter in baseball or something like that, and we’re not pretending like that’s the case. Belt’s excessive wRC+ was a byproduct of how the Blue Jays used him in 2023. As a lefty hitter with a platoon cut up, the person lives to destroy the hopes and goals of righty arms — who after all make up the huge inhabitants of MLB pitchers. As such, 90.3 p.c of his journeys to the batter’s field got here in opposition to righties; if he was thought-about a extra full participant at this stage of his profession, he would’ve had sufficient at-bats with southpaws on the mound to convey the wRC+ down.
This additionally means, although, that Belt’s wRC+ in opposition to solely righties is much more sensational. Certainly, he clubbed all 19 of his homers and tallied a 146 wRC+ in 365 PA with a righty on the mound — practically similar to Bryce Harper’s 144 wRC+ in 375 PA.
So sure, Belt is a positionally restricted platoon bat and he turned 36 on April twentieth. Nobody is arguing for him to obtain a multi-year deal and even the $13 million that the Jays gave Turner (age 39, thoughts you) to interchange him as their DH.
For Belt to not obtain something after the way in which he demolished a inhabitants that includes 74.7 p.c of big-league pitching in 2023 although? It’s weird, and it’s not like he’s ever been something however a beloved clubhouse chief, too. Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic talked to a number of of Belt’s former teammates a month in the past when he was nonetheless unsigned as of Opening Day, and so they had been simply as flummoxed. In a separate podcast look on March twenty ninth with Sportsnet’s JD Bunkis, Belt admitted to being “baffled” as effectively, particularly since he had a worse 2022 and didn’t have a problem discovering a job then.
This previous offseason? Crickets.
“I truthfully haven’t had hardly any calls in any respect which have gone previous the purpose of groups saying, ‘Hey, we’re . We’re simply checking in.’ I want I had a solution for you. I simply don’t.” — Brandon Belt
Going again to these 35 free brokers who noticed common time final 12 months, some accepted minor-league offers or mere spring coaching invites. Belt wished a assured contract, and that shouldn’t have been thought-about unreasonable contemplating the pure injury he wreaked on most pitchers final 12 months. He had a greater 12 months than everybody who settled for a non-guaranteed contract. But just one group introduced such a suggestion, and it was so absolutely loaded with incentives that it was dismissed.
The closest comparability to Belt is one other 36-year-old in Tommy Pham, who was the first DH for the Arizona Diamondbacks and hit in the midst of order for them throughout their unbelievable run to the 2023 Nationwide League pennant. A free agent, Pham additionally discovered himself with no group on Opening Day regardless of a productive 12 months. He did settle for a minor-league contract from the White Sox on April sixteenth, however that was solely a technicality since he had missed spring coaching because of the free company stall and wanted a number of video games to tune up. Pham is assured to earn not less than $3 million this 12 months.
So why can’t Belt even get one thing like that? The Tampa Bay Rays particularly have targets of contending as soon as once more in 2024 and so they have acquired totally abysmal DH manufacturing so far. Triston Casas and Trevor Story are on the 60-day IL for Boston and DH Masataka Yoshida would possibly want thumb surgical procedure; just like the Rays, Belt might actually assist the Pink Sox keep afloat within the aggressive AL East. And that is all to say nothing of the second-division groups who might do what the White Sox are doing with Pham by signing Belt with the aim of flipping him for a lottery ticket on the Commerce Deadline. For a number of million {dollars}, that’s not a nasty gamble in any respect contemplating what he did in 2023.
It might be a rattling disgrace if Belt’s glorious 13-year profession got here to an in depth earlier than he had truly run out of fuel. He nonetheless desires to play, and he deserves a shot.
