Matt

Chapman

Chapman was never retired here in a game where both offenses struggled to get anything going. He had the two hardest hit balls of the game at 108.3 mph and 109.9 mph. Also, he hammered his home run 420 feet. It’s been another great season thus far with 10 home runs and a .782 OPS.

It’s an extremely rare day off for Chapman, who has started 48 games this season already. He’s been his usual self at the dish, batting .216/.337/.398 with eight homers, 24 RBI and five steals during that span. The 32-year-old defensive standout will get off his feet during Tuesday’s contest with Casey Schmitt drawing a start at the hot corner.

Giants manager Bob Melvin has finally decided to shake things up with Adames hitting just .217/.297/.335 with four homers, 19 RBI and two steals through 41 games in his San Francisco debut. It’ll be Matt Chapman and Heliot Ramos hitting second and third, respectively, with Jung Hoo Lee in the cleanup spot. The hope for fantasy managers is that the move will reduce some of the pressure on Adames and help get him going at the dish. He’s too talented to continue flailing, especially since his plate skills and underlying batted ball metrics remain mostly in line with previous seasons.

The Giants’ offense was shutout by Chris Paddack and the Twins’ bullpen besides Chapman’s solo blast. In all, they only had three hits and didn’t even draw a walk. The homer was Chapman’s eighth of the season in what’s shaping up to be another highly productive campaign.

Chapman came up a big spot for the Giants on Saturday. With the bases loaded in the sixth, he took Jake Bird deep for a grand slam to center field to take the lead. That’s back-to-back days with a home run for the 32-year-old third baseman. He’s up to seven on the season while hitting .205/.354/.419 with 16 runs scored, 21 RBI, and four steals across 144 plate appearances.

Chapman made it a 4-0 game in the third with a solo blast, and it traveled an estimated 418 feet off an ineffective — again — Antonio Senzatela. He now has six homers on the campaign with 17 RBI, but he’s still hitting a less-than-inspiring .202/.350/.395 over 114 at-bats.

The 31-year-old slugger tagged Abner Uribe for a 411-foot (105.1 mph EV) two-run blast in the fifth inning that pulled the Giants to within a run at 5-4. That would be his only hit on the afternoon. On the season, Chapman is now slashing .230/.396/.448 with five homers, 16 RBI and three stolen bases.

Chapman got the Giants off to a nice start with a two-run blast off Kyle Hendricks in the first. The 31-year-old third baseman has homered four times while driving in 14 runs over the first 20 games; putting him at over a 100-RBI pace. Chapman has been known for his ups and downs as a hitter, but an .865 OPS over his first 72 at-bats would count more towards the former than the latter.

Chapman got the Giants on the board first with an RBI single off of Cristopher Sanchez in the opening inning. He then tagged him for a 372-foot (100.6 mph EV) two-run shot in the sixth inning that pulled the Giants to within two runs at 5-3. That would be as close as they would get. With his two-hit attack, the 31-year-old third baseman is now hitting .239/.386/.418 with three homers, 12 RBI and two stolen bases through his first 19 games.

Chapman doubled in a run in the fourth off Bryce Miller, and hit another two-bagger to score another in the sixth off Trent Thornton. He and seemingly every other Giant is off to a great start with a slash of .310/.429/.586 to show for it.