For A's Chapman, the Defense Never Rests

Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman and the rest of the Athletics got the day off Wednesday, but his defense is already ready to go.

Matt Chapman got a day off Wednesday.

Well, all of the Oakland A’s got a day off, so it was something of a shared experience for the A’s third baseman.

It might seem as if Chapman gets a lot of days off. Through the first 14 Cactus League game, Chapman has just 13 at-bats. To give that number a little perspective, there are 18 other players, including about a half dozen who won’t be making the A’s opening day roster, who have more at-bats for Oakland.

There was a time when Chapman would have been begging for more playing time. But he’s an All-Star, a two-time Gold Glove and Platinum Glove winner, and he doesn’t have to prove himself in games that don’t count.

He likes it.

“It’s best to be in the position where I don’t have to try to make the team like in 2016 or 2017,” Chapman said recently on an A’s broadcast. “(Back then) I had to come in and try to do everything all at once and show everybody everything that I have.

“Now I can ease my way into it and just focused on being healthy and focused on being strong and being in baseball shape for the season.”

To look at Chapman in the A’s camp at HoHoKam Stadium or down the road in Mesa, Ariz. at the Lew Wolff Training Complex, you might think he’s never not in baseball shape.

And he’s the first to admit that, at least defensively, he’s ready already.

“Defense seems to always kind of be like you’re riding a bike a little bit,” Chapman said. “You just jump right out there, get your reps and feel good. The offense is what teaks a while, trying to get your timing on pitches (and really) see those off-speed pitches.”

Chapman has only two full seasons in the big leagues, but if he keeps up the pace he’s on, he could be seen as a once-in-a-decade defensive wonder.

His range on foul balls in the vast tundra that is the Oakland Coliseum is unmatched. His arm unleashes lasers. His ability to grab a ball on the fun and get off a throw is spectacular.

And then there is how deep he plays. He is so confident in his ability to charge even the slowest of rollers that it allows him to play far behind the bag. And that enables him to have that extra inch or two to cut off balls that look like they should be hits. Pitchers love him for that. Managers, too.

Looking around baseball, more and more third basemen are trying to do things the Chapman way. It’s in the numbers that his way works, even if his special skill set isn’t available to everyone playing third base.

Since the 2015 season, his total of 79 defensive runs saved is the most in the Major Leagues, which is semi-incredible because Chapman didn’t get into his first MLB game until June of 2017. He’s outstripped every third baseman defensively in basically half the time.

If you just start from his 2017 debut, he has basically doubled the defensive runs saves of his closest competition, Colorado third baseman Nolan Arenado, who was a senior at Southern California’s El Toro High when Chapman was a sophomore. Arenado has 40 since 2017; Chapman had 34 in 2019 alone.

Chapman admits of no shortage of confidence in his defense. That’s due in part to because he creates his own confidence.

“For me personally, when you put that work in, that’s where the confidence comes from,” he said. “Confidence isn’t always just because of success you have, it’s because of the work you put in and you feel comfortable enough that you trust yourself to just go out and play.”