The San Francisco Giants and third baseman Matt Chapman have agreed to a six-year, $151M contract extension, giving the team a rare win in another lost season.
The deal was a win-win, and both parties reportedly wanted it badly.
The extension locks in one of the premier defensive third basemen. He has also been putting up his best numbers at the plate since his lone All-Star campaign in 2019 with the Oakland Athletics.
Chapman is third in the National League in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) at 6.0 and his .247 batting average and .333 on-base percentage are his best marks in five years. He leads the Giants in games played (136), missing just four contests all year, and paces the group in runs scored (90), hits (126), doubles (33) and total bases (227) by a wide margin. Chapman is also edging out all his teammates in home runs (22), RBI (69), walks (61) and is second in stolen bases (13) among other categories.
As NBC Sports’ Alex Pavlovic noted, it’s especially impressive that San Francisco could sign the four-time Gold Glove Award winner before the season ends, as Scott Boras clients “almost always” test free agency.
Chapman signed a one-year, $18M deal with the Giants in March.
While San Francisco (68-72) is fading fast in the NL playoff picture and is threatening to post its second straight losing season, they’ll at least have the star they wanted at the hot corner for the next six-plus years.
