Photo: Liz Moughon, The Chronicle Photo: Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Photo: Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle Photo: Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

MILWAUKEE — Did Brandon Belt drop a house on a wicked witch during a tornado? Did he drive his car into a mirror factory?

Ballplayers get hurt. Brandon Belt gets hurt in the most unfortunate ways: concussions from beanings, a broken thumb from a pitch, and this year, an appendicitis and a noncontact bone bruise in his knee that derailed what was shaping up to be that breakout season that Belt and the Giants long have sought.

“It’s tough because these injuries are not what you would call normal injuries,” Belt said in Denver on Monday, before a game he didn’t start because of knee soreness. “They’re just out of nowhere, some weird accident happens.

“Who gets appendicitis in the middle of the season? It’s kind of stupid.”

What’s not stupid is the question of Belt’s future with the Giants, even though he still has three years left on an extension he signed before last season.

The Giants drafted Joey Bart in June to be their catcher, sooner than later. When Bart arrives, Buster Posey surely will move to first base and leave Belt — where?

Moreover, recent history suggests the Giants cannot fix things solely by throwing money at free agents. They will have to venture into the trade market to get younger, quicker and more potent. It takes talent to get talent, and executive vice president Brian Sabean has hinted that even core players might be on the block.

Posey and shortstop Brandon Crawford are staying put. Both have no-trade clauses. Also, trading World Series hero of heroes Madison Bumgarner would be a huge leap for the organization even if he could attract the greatest return.

That leaves Belt, who intrigues other teams because of his ability to get on base, hit for power and field his position as well or better than any first baseman in the game. He should bring a significant return, assuming the Giants pay down some of his contract.

Belt is not thinking about changing cities, but perhaps changing positions.

“I love being a Giant and I hope that’s the way it stays,” he said, “but if it’s something like me moving to left field to give my spot to Posey, it is what it is. It doesn’t bother me. It’s just another position I’ve got to play. I really pride myself on being a little bit more versatile out there. If that’s in the cards, it’s in the cards.”

For the first two months of 2018, the cards he held were all aces. On June 1, he was hitting .307 with 11 homers and a .950 OPS that placed him among the league leaders. Those numbers over a full season attract Most Valuable Player votes.

That night, the Giants pulled Belt after two innings in a home game against the Phillies and rushed him to the hospital, where he had his appendix removed in emergency surgery.

He has not been the same hitter since, batting .211 with three homers in 210 plate appearances. With the appendicitis and knee injury costing him about five weeks, Belt might fail to reach 500 plate appearances for the fourth time in his seven full seasons.

Belt believes his downturn is an issue of lost timing and rhythm, which can be hard to regain.

“Great players always say when they’re going good, they don’t want a day off,” hitting coach Alonzo Powell said. “You want to keep playing because there’s a feeling that you have.

“He was in an unbelievable rhythm when he had the surgery. It seems like he’s been in and out of rhythm since then. Once your rhythm is a tick off, you miss balls you normally hit hard. That makes things go the wrong way.”

On the other hand, Belt is proof that defense rarely slumps. Thanks to metrics that now compose part of the formula for selecting Gold Gloves, he might win his first, and he is not shy about his qualifications.

“I’ve said many times I don’t need one to validate what I’ve done out there, but it would be nice,” he said. “I feel like I’m the best defensive first baseman in the game. I would love to have that. I’ve worked hard for it, just like everybody else has.”

Belt admitted that another curtailed season has frustrated him, especially since he thought on Opening Day he was primed for his best season.

“I’d just like to have that full season under my belt,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of them, but here lately, especially where I feel like I’ve progressed mentally and physically out on the field, I’d like to be able to show that for an entire season.

“I’m still wholeheartedly confident in myself and my abilities. I’ve shown what I can do the first half of the season. I know it’s in there. I’ve just got to get back to it.”

Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: hschulman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hnankschulman