Chapman wants to help build Giants into ‘something special’

Chapman wants to help build Giants into ‘something special’ originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

NAPA, Calif. — Matt Chapman enjoyed one of the most rewarding offseasons of his MLB career.

The 31-year-old third baseman capped off a strong 2024 season with the Giants by signing a six-year, $151 million contract extension on Sept. 6. He and his wife, Taylor, then welcomed their first child, daughter Gia, to the world almost two weeks later on Sept. 18. Nine days after that, Chapman was the recipient of the organization’s esteemed Willie Mac Award. Fast forward five weeks, and the veteran slugger then added a fifth career Gold Glove Award to his mantle.

Chapman’s eventful fall led directly into a busy winter as he began his offseason training as a first-time father.

“I’ve been preparing and training and spending the rest of my time being a dad,” Chapman told NBC Sports Bay Area on Saturday at Giants Fan Fest. “It’s a lot of fun, definitely a shift in gears for the offseason, but it’s been a lot of fun and we’re really enjoying it.”

Then, as his fatherly duties began to pick up off the field, so did his responsibilities within the organization as one of the Giants’ veteran leaders.

Adding a shortstop was at the very top of the Giants’ to-do list, and one of the players the front office considered early on before signing Willy Adames to a franchise-record seven-year, $182 million deal, was free-agent infielder Ha-Seong Kim, who is recovering from October shoulder surgery and likely won’t be ready by Opening Day.

Which prompted Posey to ask Chapman about temporarily switching positions to shortstop in the event the Giants signed Kim, who they likely would have been without for the early part of the 2025 MLB season.

“Buster called me and asked if we were to get Kim or if they couldn’t figure out the shortstop situation, would that be something I would be interested in doing, and I said I’ll do whatever the team needs me to do no problem,” Chapman shared.

Chapman’s conversation with Posey took place roughly two years after the Giants famously agreed to a massive 13-year, $350 million contract with then-free-agent infielder Carlos Correa on Dec. 13, 2022. Shortly after that agreement, the team’s longtime shortstop, Brandon Crawford, was asked to change positions to third base, a move he admittedly was not thrilled about at first, but was willing to do.

One big difference between the Correa agreement two years prior and the potential pursuit of Kim this offseason, was that Chapman was approached about potentially switching positions before the team came to an agreement with a free agent, whereas Crawford found out about switching positions after the fact.

“That’s all you can ask for, is communication,” Chapman said of his conversation with Posey. “To feel like you know what’s going on. Buster’s definitely been very open and honest with me and tried to keep me in the loop, so I appreciate that.

“I’ve had more conversations with him than any other president [of baseball operations] or general manager that I’ve ever worked with.”

San Francisco ultimately passed on Kim and had their sights set on a bigger move, locking up Adames in early December to pair alongside Chapman for years to come.

“Shortstop was something Buster felt like we needed to address [and] went out and got the best shortstop available,” Chapman added. “So that’s amazing, and I get to play alongside him for six more years at least, and that’s exciting. Having him, it just gives us another guy in our lineup that gives us a better chance to win.”

Chapman said he and Adames have remained in contact throughout the offseason and even trained together for a week earlier this winter.

The Adames addition was a big boost to the Giants organization, and with spring training less than one month away, Chapman and his teammates won’t have to wait long to take the field with their newest addition.

Then, the hard work begins, and entering his ninth season, Chapman has one goal for 2025 and beyond.

“Make the playoffs. That’s my goal,” Chapman stated. “Personally I have goals, always want to strive to improve and have really good seasons, but for me, I’ve got the contract behind me. I don’t have to worry about that, I just want to go to the playoffs, I want to win and continue to build on what I feel like we started last year and build something that’s going to be continuous winning and something special.”

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