Player review: Matt Chapman

Matt Chapman is the San Francisco Giants.

2024 stats: 154 G, 647 PA, .247/ .328/ .463/ .790 OPS, 125 OPS+, 7.1 bWAR

A year in, and already a hefty load of league awards, club accolades, team records and personal achievements have been heaped upon Matt Chapman for his performance in 2024.

He signed a 6-year/ $151 million contract extension in early September, while winning the Heart & Hustle, as well as the Willie Mac Award. He bagged his fifth career Gold Glove, and became the third third baseman (after Robin Ventura and Matt Williams) to win the award in both leagues, by posting 17 Defensive Runs Saved mark (led all third basemen) and accrued 11 Outs Above Average (tied for highest mark among 3B). Along with his defense, Chapman is also a Silver Slugger finalist, enjoying the best offensive year of his career since 2019 when he earned his first (and surprisingly only) All-Star nod and cracked the top-10 in that year’s American League Most Valuable Player contest. With absolutely no chance of winning this year’s MVP honor, he’ll receive some deserved votes for sure, especially from those wacky purists out there who believe that no designated hitter should ever be close enough to breathe on the coveted plaque, let alone get their name engraved on it. His 7.1 WAR (Baseball Reference) was the seventh highest mark in the Majors, and the highest mark in the NL (disregarding all DH’s), edging out the Mets’ Francisco Lindor by a tenth of a point, His 2.1 dWAR mark was the second highest, behind Boston’s Jarren Duran 2.5, among the MLB’s top-10 in WAR. On the club level, Chapman’s WAR mark was the highest for a Giant since Posey’s MVP year in 2012 (7.6). It was the third highest WAR for a third baseman in franchise history behind Mel Ott (8.9 in ‘38) and Art Devlin (7.9 in 1906), and the highest total in the San Francisco era. He became the first Giant to hit a triple and an inside-the-park-homer in the same game since 1953, and the first Giant third baseman since Freddie Lindstrom to bag 20+ homers, 30+ doubles and 15 stolen bases in a season.

The list could go on. We can quantify, slash, filter and qualify these statistical spreadsheets until we find irrefutable, statistical proof that Matt Chapman could be considered the greatest right-handed hitting Taurus born south of I-40. Oh wait…that’s Willie Mays. Forget it. Let’s just cut through all the statistical blunder. What excites me most about Chapman’s 2024 season isn’t really about counting stats or league rankings or awards anyway. It’s not about superlatives. It’s about presence.

It already feels like Matt Chapman has been a member of the San Francisco Giants for a long time. He’s kind of a mishmash of the best qualities of the dynasty core we love and now miss. A custom combo deal of the Brandons: Belt’s bat, with Crawford’s glove, a touch of both of their deadpan and wry senses of humor, with the added blessing of not being a lefty hitting at Oracle. Chapman’s “all-aroundness” pairs perfectly with his daily-ness, which recalls the 2013 and 2014 seasons of Hunter Pence. And not since Buster Posey has a player so quickly acclimated, so easily fit in, already the de-facto leader of the clubhouse. He’s become synonymous with the brand. Whatever the brand is… Dog dads? La Croix drinkers? Chapman is cut from the same khaki cloth as Posey, which makes him the cornerstone to build this iteration of the new-but-old future Giants now that the Grand POBO’s Even-Year revival has begun.

On the one hand, a decade on from the last World Series win, the nostalgia has soured. We can’t just keep trying to reassemble and revive the past like some sewn-together laboratory monster — can we? But it doesn’t make sense to reject it completely either. The lessons from those championship runs are still applicable today. Pitching is the path. Kick the computers to the curb, and reinstate feel, hunch, gut, animal nicknames, loogies. As Bryan points out in his recent article, the club philosophy will be a mixture of these indistinct approaches and aesthetics. A bit of old, a bit of new — a brew Chapman positions well in. He’s a student of the game and an instinctual one. Both exit velocity and fielding grounders with his bare-hand. His style is also an effective marketing tool for Posey’s purposes. Chapman’s defense attracts high-caliber pitching, as well as some other glove-nerds around the league. Chapman’s success at the plate helps bust the myths of Oracle being barren for hitters. His long-term commitment to the club raises eyebrows of curious veterans looking for a place to settle down. Questions about the direction of this somewhat scuffling San Francisco team abound, and Chapman will field them like he fields anything: convincingly.

***

Chapman essentially slashed his career line this past year.

2024: .247/ .328/ .463/ .790 OPS, 125 OPS+

Career AVG: .241/ .329/ .462/ .790 OPS, 118 OPS+

That kind of mid-career sync massages the brain. A career’s worth of averages played out across a season brings a deep level of satisfaction, like finding flush between adjacent boards. Here is a 31-year-old veteran who’s settled into his swing. A small step in his stance and quick to the ball — nothing is convoluted or overwrought. When he steps into the box, he just looks comfortable. He posted his highest contact-rate since 2019 as well as continuing his career long trend of knocking the snot out of the ball. He fares well against both lefties and righties, his home and away splits are well-balanced, maintained by a plate approach that adapts to his surroundings.

I mean, things must be going right if a swing like this gets you to third base.

Another year like this at the plate doesn’t feel like much of a stretch for Chapman to replicate or exceed with his hitting profile. April was his worst month in terms of offensive production (.597 OPS) which was probably a hangover from his last months in Toronto when he posted a .632 OPS post-All Star break. With that first month as a Giant in the rearview mirror, he went on to log an .825 OPS (130 wRC+) for the rest of the year.

While he rediscovered himself with a bat in a Giants uniform, Chapman’s preferred medium is the glove. After watching him for a season, there is a certain gravitational pull that he exhibits when he positions himself on the diamond. It’s like the whole world tilts towards his corner when he is in motion on the field. Contact up the line, in the hole — everything is within arm’s reach. He can position himself so deep on the infield dirt because of his deftness at coming in on the ball. All other players appear to slow as he gallops in on a roller up the third baseline. It was like Mookie Betts had to take double the strides to cover the 90 feet to first. T.J. Friedl battled gravity, was running uphill, when Chapman threw him out in August.

Chapman’s charge onto the infield grass is done with such purpose. He’s confident in his hands to corral the ball, in his legs to position themselves accordingly to allow his arm to fire the ball down to first. It is both inspiration and well-practiced craft.

Watch and re-watch his play to nab Mark Vientos at first in New York. Chapman’s heels are near the outfield grass when the ball is put in play. A high-hopper weakly hit to the left side, in the general direction of third, and there is no doubt. No note of question in Dave Flemming’s call.

“CHAPMAN” out of his mouth, in the listener’s ears, lands as solid as concrete. A statement, a fact as he meets the ball in front of the bag, plants, fires.

Presence. Chapman has it, and the Giants needed it.