The missing production is one thing, but having A’s star third baseman Matt Chapman out for the remainder of the season places an emotional toll on the team as well.
Twitter filled up with hopeless mentions after hearing Chapman landed on the injury list Saturday morning.
Without a two-time Platinum Glove Award winner and the A’s seeing championship contention on the horizon, his absence in the clubhouse will be felt.
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“The numbers, the performance, the Platinum gloves, the power, everything, but he’s one of the emotional leaders on this team,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said Saturday. “He is a big voice in the clubhouse and he’s a big voice on the field, during games.”
Chapman has become a vocal leader in the clubhouse and a major reason the A's popularity has increased around MLB.
Sure, it’s a different situation this season with MLB safety protocols forbidding fans from attending games, but he said back in January if the A’s were to win the division, he wouldn’t see why fans would refuse to show up.
Oakland Athletics
That’s where the team is heading. Oakland had a 28-15 (best in the AL West) record heading into Saturday’s doubleheader against the Texas Rangers -- seven games ahead of the second-place Houston Astros.
"I think there's going to be a lot of games for people to come out and we're going to give you a good reason to come out," Chapman told NBC Sports Bay Area back in January.
Things were completely different back then, but the current team still features tons of talent.
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“He’s been a leader really since the moment that he arrived here,” Melvin added Saturday. “So, you know, it’s one thing to just look at the numbers and look at the player and what you miss, but there’s also intangibles that we will miss from him too.”
So yes,” Melvin said. “This is quite a blow for us.”