Giants’ Matt Chapman Placed on 10-Day IL With Hand Sprain, Expected to Miss Several Weeks
There’s a chance that Matt Chapman may not return to the San Francisco Giants lineup until after the All-Star break next month.
The 32-year-old third baseman will be out of commission for an extended time after landing on the 10-day injured list due to right hand inflammation ahead of Tuesday’s 6-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies. He suffered the injury sliding back into first base on a pickoff attempt on Sunday against the Atlanta Braves.
Despite remaining in the contest, Chapman underwent X-rays post-game – which returned negative – but still felt discomfort in his hand and feared he had endured considerable damage. After undergoing an MRI on Monday, that fear became a reality with his results revealing sprained ligaments in his index, middle and ring fingers and a bone bruise.
The 2019 All-Star will travel to Los Angeles on Friday to visit with hand specialist Dr. Steven Shin, where the club will gather additional details regarding his timeline. But they already know that he’ll be sidelined beyond the minimum 10 days.
“It sucks because I felt like we had just won five games in a row,” Chapman told reporters prior to Tuesday’s game, including MLB.com’s Maria Guardado. “We were starting to get some momentum going. I felt like I was really starting to put together some really good at-bats and feel good. Just bad timing, but that’s the way this is sometimes. I’m really bummed out. I’m happy that I get to be able to come back at some point and help our team by the end of the first half and throughout the whole second half and really help the team. That’s my focus right now. That’s what’s motivating me.”
Chapman’s IL stint couldn’t have come at a worse time, as he had been red hot at the plate, hitting .395/.489/.763 with eight extra-base hits – including three home runs – and five RBIs over his last 11 games.
The Giants recalled fellow infielder Christian Koss from Triple-A Sacramento as a corresponding move. Casey Schmitt is expected to fill in at the hot corner until Chapman returns.
“Every team goes through injuries,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ve actually been probably pretty lucky as far as injuries go this year. Some guys are probably a little bit more valuable than others. Obviously, [Chapman] means a lot to us, but Casey gets a chance to play the position that he’s used to playing. Everybody’s got to pick it up a little bit until he comes back. It’s just something we have to deal with.”
Replacing the five-time Gold Glove winner won’t be easy for San Francisco. He’s easily been the club’s most valuable player this season, leading all position players in home runs (12) and fWAR (2.5) over 65 games.
Chapman also ranks second on the team in SLG (.452) and wRC+ (133, 100 league average), trailing Heliot Ramos (.480, 137) in both of those categories.
Improved plate discipline has been a major factor behind the right-handed-hitting third baseman’s early success this season, as he’s produced career-best marks with his walk (14.7 percent) and chase rates (18.5 percent) – placing in the 94th and 96th percentiles, respectively.
Defensively, Chapman – in the first season of a six-year, $151-million extension signed in September – enters Wednesday’s slate tied for third in defensive runs saved (six) and fielding run value (two) among qualified major league third basemen, sitting alone in third in outs above average (three).
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
Photo: Bspangenberg. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.