San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
CRAVING COMPETITION
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — An unusually cool and overcast evening in Arizona seemed to serve as the perfect backdrop for Matt Chapman’s debut with the San Francisco Giants, especially with Dodger blue in the opposing dugout and throughout the Scottsdale Stadium stands.
Chapman is well aware of the challenging elements for a baseball player by the bay, and his five seasons in Oakland did not deter him from returning. He’s also hip to the Giants-Dodgers rivalry, having grown up in Southern California, and is eager to jump right into it.
“It’s funny because some of my family members are …” — Chapman caught himself — “… were Dodger fans.”
Four days after Chapman officially became a Giant, he was in the lineup Friday night at third base and in the No. 5 hole, behind fellow free-agent acquisition Jorge Soler. The game was called in the third inning because of rain, so Giants fans in the sold-out crowd got just a glimpse of the four-time Gold Glover.
Still, it was enough to envision Chapman significantly upgrading the defense and adding pop to the middle of the order. The addition makes the Giants better but likely not nearly enough to take down the mighty Dodgers in the National League West. The realistic goal, if the Giants can figure out their rotation, is to shoot for one of the three NL wild-card spots.
Chapman, who has been in plenty of playoff races with Oakland and Toronto, knows the score. The Dodgers reached the postseason 11 straight seasons while the Giants got there once in the past seven. Despite adding Chapman, Soler, Jung Hoo Lee, Jordan Hicks and Robbie Ray, the Giants didn’t close the gap with the Dodgers because the Dodgers did far more in the offseason, and already were light-years ahead of the Giants.
Still, as Chapman would note, you’ve got to play the games.
“You want to be the ones being chased, the ones with a target on your back,” Chapman said. “Obviously, there’s some steps for us to get to that point. That’s not something that happens overnight. You continue to work to build something. You would think the Dodgers feel they have a target on their back.”
Indeed. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman have company. Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Teoscar Hernandez joined a group that won 100 games last year, and the Dodgers, with their gobs of international marketing plans, have their sights not just on being America’s Team but Earth’s Team.
Chapman equated the Giants’ situation to where the A’s were when he burst into the majors in 2017, a losing team looking up at the powerful Astros, who won the World Series that year amid a sign-stealing scandal. The next three years, the A’s made the playoffs, as 97-win wild-card teams in 2018 and 2019, both years finishing behind Houston, and as division champs in the pandemic-shortened 2020.
“I think it’s similar to the A’s situation where we had the Astros in our division,” Chapman said. “We’re the team that wants to take that next step and be the team that’s the biggest threat.”
Chapman spent his childhood in Orange County and gravitated more toward the Angels than the Dodgers. For Giants fans who still can’t overcome the devastating 2002 World Series loss to the Angels, despite ensuing championship runs in 2010, 2012 and 2014, please don’t take it personally that 9-year-old Matt Chapman was a big fan of those Angels.
“Probably my favorite guys from the World Series team were Garret Anderson, Troy Glaus and Darin Erstad, and my dad’s favorite was David Eckstein,” Chapman said, reciting a who’s who of 2002 Giant killers.
Chapman quickly evolved into a team leader early in his career, at first looking up to fellow A’s infielder Marcus Semien, one of the most widely respected players in the league, and ultimately moving into a leadership role himself, speaking up when needed both to the team and to individuals. That carried over to his two seasons in Toronto, where teammates raved about his leadership skills.
Now 30, Chapman looks around the clubhouse and notices many young players he could mentor including Marco Luciano, who’ll be in the hunt with Nick Ahmed for playing time at shortstop.
“Of course, I want to help in any way I can,” Chapman said. “I’m not going to start barking orders or anything like that, but I want to come in and help lead the guys.”
In Thursday’s rain-shortened game, Chapman took a called third strike thrown by Dodger lefty James Paxton in his lone at-bat and had one ball hit his way, Hernandez’s sharp grounder that he nearly stopped with a diving attempt, a play he’ll likely make once he fully gets back into game shape — “I intend to be fully ready by Opening Day, ready to rock.”
Prized pitching prospect Kyle Harrison, just four years removed from his senior year at De La Salle High School, was on the mound and said later he’s looking forward to watching Chapman flash his skills at the hot corner.
“He’s a vacuum over there, so that’s going to be really handy for us,” Harrison said. “I’m a Danville kid, so I grew up watching him in Oakland, wanting the ball and putting his body on the line for you, and watching (Bob) Melvin managing over there at the Coliseum when the A’s were good, so it’s cool to see it come full circle.”
Chapman seems primed to become a difference maker for the team across the bay, again in an underdog situation. “I’m familiar with the Giants-Dodgers rivalry and how far it goes back,” he said. “It’s cool to be a part of something like that.”