No Way Is Matt Chapman Great
Matt Chapman is not having a great season. He’s not having a very good season. He’s merely having a pretty good season.
I bring this up because, on Twitter or whatever it’s called, I mentioned one of the Giants announcers said Chapman is having a “great” season. I allow for a certain amount of hyperbole. But is the Giants third baseman, in any sense of the phrase, having a great season?
No how no way.
I point to his batting average which is .242. That is a below average batting average – the MLB average average is .244. I need to find another word for average so I don’t sound redundant.
Which means his batting average ain’t so hot.
I grew up watching Willie Mays who had a lifetime batting average of .301. That qualifies as great although there have been greater. I believe base hits and batting average matter. Call me old-fashioned. Tony Gwynn got 3141 hits in his career. Chapman can’t dream of that number. Gwynn batted .338. That’s what great looks like.
Major-League batters strike out an average of 22.7 percent of the time. Chapman strikes out 27.8 percent. Great?
He has 20 home runs and people talk about him like he’s the Babe. Chapman is unlikely to hit 30 homers this season. At the start of play today, Aaron Judge had 51. Great.
Chapman has 63 RBIs so far. He’s highly unlikely to drive in 100 runs.
Chapman is above average for WAR (5.4) and OPS (.764) – I admit I hate those stats – but he’s not spectacularly above average. Judge’s WAR is 9.4, his OPS 1.012. That’s great.
So, Chapman is nothing more than pretty good. He would be a supporting player on a good team, maybe batting sixth or seventh and helping out with his excellent fielding. But because the Giants are not a good team – at 66-66 they are the definition of average and mediocre – Chapman’s modest achievements get called great for want of other candidates. Heliot Ramos is promising but has a long way to go before he has greatness thrust upon him. Buster Posey was great. Barry Bonds was great.
Fans write to me, tell me the Giants should lock up Chapman with a long-term, lucrative contract. If they Giants do that, somebody should lock them up.
Totally agree with you on Chapman, Lowell. And now the Giants did give him that long-term contract. I had the same reaction when I heard people sayinig he was having a great season. Just a season better than most of the other players on this average team. His strikeout rate is way too high, and I am also old school and believe batting average matters.. Chapman had a strong finish to the season, but by then the Giants were out of it, so it didn't matter. He and a few others who had strong finishes, like Conforto, did not do the job when needed to get the Giants into the playoffs.
Long time listener, first time caller...will never forget your famous column which described sitting in lawn chair, listening to giants game on portable radio at the godforsaken 7th and Townsend site which the late Dianne Feinstein thought would be a swell place to build a ballpark...it's good to read you again,...love Grant's stuff and The Cohn Zone...