Attempting to lighten Chapman’s load
Oakland trims third baseman’s work in effort to keep him fresh
SEATTLE — The instinct for players such as Matt Chapman amid trials in a baseball season is to work through them. Outcomes oscillate in a sixmonth schedule, and consistent preparation is prized.
The A’s and their Platinum Glove third baseman, though, agree it is possible to reach a point of diminishing returns with pregame work and so are trying a slightly different strategy — scaling back Chapman’s load, with an eye on preserving and possibly jumpstarting him in the second half.
“We’ve done a little bit with (center fielder Ramón) Laureano, too, where we’ve kind of cut back on his pregame,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Because both these guys play really hard, and you can overdo it with the amount of stuff you do in the (batting) cage these days.
“Guys go through routines early, after batting practice, take batting practice, take groundballs. It’s just a lot … so just trying to take a little off the plate of the guys that maybe play a little bit higher clip, higher pace, than some of the other guys.”
Melvin said the idea does not involve Chapman playing less; the aim is to ensure he is fresh for games. Chapman has played in 98 of 101 games for the A’s, tied with Elvis Andrus for the team lead, and leads the A’s with 403 plate appearances in his first season back from hip surgery. He’s batting .218 with a .685 OPS, both of which would be career lows over a full season.
“I’m on board, for sure,” Chapman said prior to Sunday’s game in Seattle. “I like to work hard, obviously, and try to get as much stuff as I can done. But a lot of times we get to the field so early before the games, I’m doing a lot of work and by the time the game rolls around, I’m tired from whether it’s taking a bunch of grounders or taking too many swings.
“So, we’re just trying to manage my workload so I can stay fresh throughout the season and just keep my legs strong and help this team make a push.”
As Melvin indicated, the A’s have adjusted team pregame routine in recent years — onfield batting practice, for example, is no longer a daily ritual — but the hours players spend at the ballpark also are filled with individual regimens. The A’s took onfield batting practice twice during a fourgame series at Seattle, before the first and third games. Chapman was not on the field Saturday. Before Sunday’s game, though, he emerged into the A’s dugout around noon dripping sweat and holding a bat, having just left the cage.
“Usually I get to the field and I eat and I don’t stop until the game goes,” Chapman said. “And I think it catches up with you a little bit, lifting weights too much or whatever it is, doing a lot of work. I think for me, it’ll help me build more of a routine to be, like, ‘Hey, what’s most important? What do I need to get done today to help the team?’ ”
Chapman, who had a torn right hip labrum repaired in September, has resumed playing elite defense. Through Sunday, he ranked third among all majorleague defenders in Statcast’s outs above average metric. FanGraphs listed him second among third basemen in defensive runs saved. His hitting numbers, however, have yet to resemble his pre2020 levels. Chapman’s hardhit and home run rates are the lowest of his career, and his 31% strikeout rate was second highest among qualified hitters.
With strikeouts, A’s assistant hitting coach Eric Martins said: “We look at how they’re striking out, at what pitches, are they chasing, is it out of their approach, and it’s been a combination” with Chapman. Martins suggested opposing pitchers “have found some things in his swing” and “are attacking him there right now.”
“I think they’ve attacked him a lot with fastballs at the top of the zone, and that’s kind of what they do in general,” Martins said. “They did that with (first baseman Matt Olson) last year and he had to combat that in the offseason. So, it’s trying to diagnose that a little bit and get Chappy into a better position to be able to work from the top of the zone down.”
Martins said a key for Chapman is using his lower half to “get into a good, strong position and execute your swing” and: “I think it has a lot to do with him being able and being fresh for the game to execute that swing.”
Chapman had a 16game hitting streak in June during which he hit .323 with six home runs. In his next 19 games, through Sunday, he hit .171. His thirdinning home run against Seattle lefthander Yusei Kikuchi on Friday snapped a stretch of 16 games without one and was one of his two extrabase hits this month.
“You look at the little rut he’s in right now, obviously the thought is like, ‘All right, we’ve got to get him some extra swings,’ ” Martins said. “And sometimes that’s not beneficial for guys like that. He feels that, he wants to work and he wants to be able to get out there and contribute to this team. At the same time, we’re trying to scale back a little bit and see if that helps.
“He’s going to be fine. We don’t ever question him. It’s just going to be one of those years that he’s going to have to find it. He’s going to be a little up and down. And if we can catch him in a good streak toward the end of the year when we need him, that’s all that really matters.”