SAN FRANCISCO – Matt Chapman has been and still is the most impactful player in the Giants’ lineup, be it with his bat or fantastic defense.
The four-time MLB All-Star third baseman showcased his fancy glove work in Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Detroit Tigers, making a pair of defensive gems that had the sellout crowd at Oracle Park oohing and aahing.
The first one, a play that manager Bob Melvin called a momentum-changer, came in the sixth inning after the Tigers got two runners on base with two out. Bligh Madris hit a soft liner that looked like it would fall in to left field for a hit before Chapman made a leaping catch then tumbled to the turf.
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“If that ball bloops in and scores a run, now all of a sudden it’s a completely different game” Melvin said. “I don’t know too many guys that make plays like that. That was as big a play in this game as any of the hits.”
Logan Webb, who was on the mound and benefited most from the play, watched in awe.
“He made the play and I was like shocked,” Webb said. “I got to play with (Brandon) Crawford a couple years and he’s one of those guys that does that sort of stuff, too.”
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This is nothing new for Chapman, who firmly has cemented himself as one of the best third basemen to ever play MLB in the Bay Area. Chapman spent his first five seasons playing across the Bay for Melvin and the Oakland A’s, making plays like the ones he made Saturday look very routine.
“It’s his first burst to get to it and there’s just a determination to get to every ball,” Melvin said.
Chapman also entered the day as one of the Giants’ hottest hitters.
In the 16 games prior to Saturday, he was hitting .344 with six home runs, 14 RBIs, 13 runs scored and nine walks. He currently leads San Francisco in home runs (19), runs scored (80), doubles (30), stolen bases (12) and RBIs (57).
Batting in the clean-up spot Saturday, Chapman cooled off and went 0-for-3 with a walk.
He still found a way to make his presence felt, doing it the old-fashioned way with solid and spectacular defense. One inning after his highlight catch robbed Madris of a hit, Chapman made a diving stop on Colt Keith’s sharp liner then got up and made the throw to first for the out.
It went down in the scorebook as a routine 5-3 but the play was far from routine.
“What makes me feel good is maybe on a day when I didn’t have the most productive day offensively I could still help the team on defense and find ways to win games,” Chapman said. “You can always find a way to win a game on defense so it feels good for sure. And it just motivates me to want to keep on making them.
“We weren’t necessarily tearing the ball off the cover today so to be able to save some runs like that was huge. For me, it’s fun looking back at it but in the moment I’m just trying to save runs to win the game.”
Plays like that are motivating to his teammates as well.
“Chappy, it’s unbelievable,” Webb said. “I don’t think many guys in baseball make those plays. It’s fun to pitch when he’s out there.”
Chapman had a high degree of difficulty on the play he made to rob Madris of a hit in the fifth, securing the catch after tumbling to the turf.
“I wasn’t sure if I was going to get to it,” he said. “I knew Webby got in there with the sinker but it was one of those ones where I was hoping I could run it down. Then you jump and you hope it stays in your glove because it wasn’t hit hard so you can’t always feel it in your glove. Luckily it was able to stay in there, and it was a big play.”
It’s no stretch to say that the Giants’ current run of success – 13 wins in their last 17 games – is a byproduct of Chapman’s work both offensively and defensively.
“We’re finding ways to win games when we have to,” Chapman said. “We’ve been battling all year, whether it’s been injuries or just not being able to get something going. For us to be able to start creeping in the right direction, and the teams ahead of us especially in our division are kind of doing the same thing, we have to keep doing our thing.”
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