A’s Chapman works to fix bad habits at plate

No pressure, but Matt Chapman is one of a handful of Oakland A’s players that holds the key to the team’s success this year.

Not that strong performances up and down the roster won’t be essential for the A’s to dig themselves out of this tumultuous start on their quest for another division title. But as an anchor both defensively at the hot corner and offensively in the middle of the batting order, a bounceback year for Chapman could raise the team’s ceiling significantly.

The comeback comes with a hitch. Chapman had surgery on a partially torn labrum in September — it forced him to miss the A’s 2020 postseason run. The injury also forced Chapman into some bad habits at the plate, he said. In 2020, he wasn’t able to think about the job, just how to do the job without hurting himself.

“I was in pain and not able to do the things I wanted to do,” he said. That led to Chapman creating some bad habits in the batter’s box as he tried to compensate for the pain in his back leg.

“Subconsciously I started using some of my bigger muscles and trying to muscle the ball to get bat speed instead of taking a direct, quick swing and use my back side,” Chapman said.

That led to an ugly stretch of games in which Chapman

struck out in 10 consecutive at bats in a series against the San Diego Padres. He collected 54 total strikeouts in 142 at bats with eight walks along with a .232 average. His strikeout rate skyrocketed to 35.5%, which ranked among the worst in the league when news broke that he’d need to undergo surgery.

Chapman is back healthy with a vengeance in 2021, unabashed in his quest to win his third Platinum Glove and help lead the team to another postseason run — this time, he won’t be holed up in his Southern California home nursing an injury while watching his team compete on television. He and the A’s have a full 162 to work with this year, too, but those habits at the plate he developed with the injury have translated to this season.

“He’s still fighting to get those mechanics back,” manager Bob Melvin said. “It’s one thing to work on it in the cage, it’s another thing to go up and take your at-bats and not have to think about it. It’s a progression for him, for sure. He was coming out a little early and trying to do too much without squaring up like he normally does, and that came from the hip stuff. Sometimes it takes a while for that, but he’s aware of it and he’s working hard at it.”

Now, he’s trying not to use his upper body too much to generate power, which forces him to fly open with his front shoulder. He’s working to stay through the zone and keep his direction through center field instead of pulling off.

“Those are some of the things I’m trying to clean up,” Chapman said.