Matt

Chapman

Chapman went hitless in his spring debut last month, but he’s since 8-for-12 with four homers and five walks. He should be locked in as the Giants’ cleanup hitter at the beginning of the year, and maybe he’ll have the chance to make a run at 90 RBI. The only Giant to do that in the last nine years was Brandon Crawford, who finished with 90 in 2021.

Chapman saw a total of three pitches from Cannon and two of them left the yard. Coming off a stellar first season in San Francisco — his 125 OPS+ was his high mark since 2019 — he’s hitting .462/.611/1.154 in 18 plate appearances this spring.

Chapman tagged Brewers’ ace Freddy Peralta for his two-run shot to open the scoring in the home half of the first inning. It was the first of four home runs by the Giants on the day, as Wilmer Flores, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Mike Yastrzemski also joined in on the fun. Chapman finished the day 1-for-2 plus a walk and is now hitting .286 (2-for-7) through his first couple of spring training contests.

Chapman is a five-time Gold Glove Award winner and two-time Platinum Glove Award winner at third base, but he has only played four games at shortstop during his big league career. He’s such a skilled defender though, that he could undoubtedly handle it with ease until Kim is recovered from his off-season shoulder surgery. The 31-year-old is expected to miss the start of the 2025 season at a minimum and could be sidelined for most of the first half. If the Giants slid Chapman over to shortstop temporarily, Tyler Fitzgerald would likely serve as the team’s starting third baseman until Kim was ready to return.

Chapman wasted no time winning the award for the first time in the National League in his first season with the Giants -- impressively beating out Nolan Arenado to do it. Here’s the full list of Gold Glove winners in the National League (along with how many times they have won the award): C: Patrick Bailey (1), 1B: Christian Walker (3), 2B: Brice Turang (1), SS: Ezequiel Tovar (1), 3B Matt Chapman (5), P: Chris Sale (1), LF: Ian Happ (3), CF: Brenton Doyle (2), RF: Sal Frelick (1), UT: Jared Triolo (1).

Chapman has 39 doubles on the season. He’s hitting .247 with a .791 OPS and 78 RBI. It was a big time bounce back season for the 31-year-old. Chapman even stole 15 bases this year after stealing only 11 in the first seven years of his career.

Chapman’s home run was his 27th of the season. He hit a two-run inside-the-park home run off Eduardo Rodriguez in the third inning. Chapman hit it in the perfect spot where Corbin Carroll made a leaping attempt and missed and the ball bounced off the wall to where no one could get it. Pavin Smith made a valiant effort to corral the ball, but it got in late and Chapman beat the throw from the cutoff man. Chapman now has three home runs in three games since returning from the paternity list. He’s hitting .249 with a .798 OPS and 78 RBI on the year.

Chapman now has 26 home runs on the season. He hit solo home runs off Brady Singer in the fourth and sixth inning. Chapman wasted no time in making an impact after coming off the paternity list Saturday. He’s hitting .249 with a .789 OPS and 75 RBI on the year.

Chapman spent three days on the paternity list as he was away from the field dealing with something more important than baseball. Now he’s back for the Giants’ game Saturday night game against the Royals.

Chapman is enjoying a fantastic September, and now gets to celebrate a little one joining his family. Casey Schmitt has been recalled to replace Chapman, who will be out for up to three days.