Major League Baseball

1B Brandon Belt receives $79M, 6-year contract from Giants

Published Apr. 9, 2016 5:20 p.m. ET

foxsports

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) San Francisco Giants first baseman Brandon Belt reached agreement Saturday on a $79 million, six-year contract that takes him through the 2021 season.

Belt's deal includes his previous contract for this season, plus five more years. General manager Bobby Evans remained optimistic all offseason that something would soon get done long-term for Belt, who had been in his third year of arbitration and signed a $6.2 million, one-year contract in February.

Belt took a physical Saturday morning at AT&T Park. The 27-year-old batted .280 with 18 home runs and 68 RBIs in 2015 as the Giants missed the playoffs.

Belt traveled to Florida in February 2014 for an arbitration hearing that was avoided when the sides settled just beforehand, avoiding the team's first hearing since catcher A.J. Pierzynski in 2004.