For Giants' Matt Chapman, goal is to carry spring success into regular season
· Yahoo Sports
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Matt Chapman is having a sizzling spring, which is great news for the San Francisco Giants, in theory.
Last year, the third baseman had an even better spring. He led the team with a .400 average, six homers and 14 RBIs. This spring, he's hitting .406 with two homers and five RBIs in four fewer games than his final 2025 Cactus League total.
Visit asg-reflektory.pl for more information.
"It feels good," he said. "I think it means that what I worked on this offseason is going to work in the season. The swing feels good, the defense feels good. That makes me feel like I'm prepared, ready to go."
For all the focus on new second baseman Luis Arráez, a three-time batting champ, plus having first baseman Rafael Devers for a full season and shortstop Willy Adames now accustomed to the Giants and to Oracle Park, Chapman might be the real bellwether for the offense. The team was 68-60 in his starts, 14-5 in games in which he homered and 24-12 in games in which he drove in a run - make that 59-24 overall in his two seasons with the team.
Keeping him healthy, of course, is important; Chapman spent two stints on the injured list in 2025 because of a hand injury, in part the result, he told the Chronicle at the time, of the hard infield surface at Oracle Park. Ensuring that dirt has more give for the two-time Platinum Glove winner is a must.
After his hot start last year, Chapman didn't put together his best season, in part because of the hand injuries, though he had several hot streaks. He hit .231 with 21 homers and 61 RBIs, all down from the previous year (.247, 27, 78).
The area Chapman would like to see the most improvement in is his two-strike approach - he hit .144 with two strikes, .188 when behind in the count. The league average with two strikes was .169, when pitchers were ahead, .202.
That's still a work in progress, Chapman said. "It requires me to maintain all my focus," he said.
Hitting coach Hunter Mense knows Chapman well from the Blue Jays, and, he said, "I've seen Matt in a month where he was the best player in baseball, so I continue to remind him of those times and who he is and what he's been able to do. When I see him having a spring like he's having, that just helps reinforce that - let's not question too many of these things. Because he's special. Matt's really special."
The two-strike thing? Not really an issue this spring. Chapman's not hanging around and waiting much.
"He hasn't gotten to two strikes a ton," Mense said. "Matt's putting a lot of balls in play with less than two strikes, so when he gets the two strikes, he knows in the back of his mind he can still put balls in play. He has bat-to-ball skills, it's just a matter of understanding and learning how to use them."
While Mense and Chapman go back to 2022-23 in Toronto, first-year Giants manager Tony Vitello is learning all his players. Chapman has impressed him so much that Chapman's usually the player Vitello mentions first when he discusses leadership, likening Chapman to the captain of a college team.
"Even the at-bats that are not productive on the stat sheet have been good," Vitello said. "He's put himself in a consistent position in the box - even times where he's broken a bat or gotten jammed or out front.
"Regardless of the results, what you're looking for is consistency and he's been in a good position consistently. And he's one of those guys where emotions aren't running hot, he's not going to give an at-bat away. For a guy who plays with a high level of intensity, he's somewhat stoic in a positive way, kind of moderate with everything, which is encouraging."
This article originally published at For Giants' Matt Chapman, goal is to carry spring success into regular season.