After hip surgery, Chapman appears ready for training
Full team workouts don’t start for another few days, but third baseman Matt Chapman is already around A’s camp and moving well in his return from hip surgery, A’s manager Bob Melvin said Friday morning.
Thursday, the A’s posted a clip of Chapman fielding grounders at their spring training field. Melvin said he was hitting the grounders to Chapman and liked what he saw.
“He looks good, looks like he’s maybe even a little bit lighter,” Melvin said on a video call. “But yeah, I didn’t see anything different. … We just gave him a few, didn’t make him go too far. But he’s eager. It’s going to be more trying to hold him back than trying to get him ready.”
Chapman, a twotime Platinum Glove defender, had surgery in September to repair a torn right hip labrum with a cleanup of the femoral head. He began rehab work the next day and was projected for a fourmonth recovery. Melvin said the A’s could ease Chapman back partly by DHing him in early Cactus League games and will “take the lead from our training staff.”
Chapman played 37 games of the shortened 2020 season before aggravating his hip making a defensive play. He later said the hip was “something that had kind of been bugging me this whole season.” Before the injury, Chapman hit .232 with 10 home runs and 54 strikeouts in 152 plate appearances. He hit .249 with 36 home runs in 2019, placing sixth in MVP voting.
“He’s very driven, he’s a hardworking guy,” Melvin said. “So there was never a doubt in my mind that he would be hitting all the markers along the way, which he has.
“I think the only thing you worry about is if he’s trying to push it too hard to get back. But he’s not. He’s doing everything that he’s asked to do and he understands that to come back from this injury you can’t push it too much.”
Petit signed: The A’s made reliever Yusmeiro Petit’s oneyear deal official and opened a 40man roster spot for him by placing starter Frankie Montas on the COVID19 related injured list.
Montas tested positive for the coronavirus prior to reporting to camp. Once cleared by a team physician and joint committee of MLB and the players union, Montas can work out with the A’s while still on the COVID IL. He’ll need to be reinstated before playing in a game and would then count again toward the 40man roster limit.