There were plenty of rough stretches for the Giants in 2026, but Matt Chapman stood out as one of the biggest letdowns on the roster, right there with Willy Adames. The worry now is simple: at 33 years old, was this just a bad season, or the start of something longer?
Chapman’s year never really found steady ground. It got off to a shaky start, and one early moment in San Diego didn’t help his image.
He told Casey Schmitt to “catch the bleeping ball,” a comment that looked especially poor in hindsight because Schmitt outperformed him over the course of the season. The two reportedly moved past it, so it didn’t linger publicly, but it was hardly the kind of scene the Giants wanted from a veteran.
The offense was slow to show up, too. At the start of June, Chapman had just one home run, and it was an inside-the-park shot from late March. May was especially ugly, with Chapman hitting .186/.259/.275.
June brought a better stretch. The power finally returned, and he delivered a huge eight-RBI game against the Chicago Cubs.
But even that upswing came with a caveat: he was playing through a core muscle injury that flared up in Arizona on June 30. He tried to rehab and return, but the injury wouldn’t cooperate, and surgery ended his season.
Chapman finished at .235/.324/.368 with seven home runs and 42 RBIs.
The bright spot, at least, was that his defense at third base largely held up. That still gives him value.
But the Giants need a much better offensive version of Chapman in 2027 if they want to get where they’re trying to go. They need the player he was in 2024, not the one who faded in 2026.
There’s also the money hanging over all of this. The Giants still have more than $100 million committed to Chapman over the next four years, so his trajectory matters a lot. If this keeps bending the way 2026 did, his path in San Francisco could start to look a lot like Evan Longoria’s, and that would be a tough outcome for everyone involved.
Health is going to be the biggest factor. Chapman has always wanted to be on the field, and manager Tony Vitello will need to take a firmer hand with him and the other veterans next season.
That means more rest, more management, and no more pushing through injuries. Chapman, Adames, and Rafael Devers deserve credit for wanting to play through it, but the Giants need them as fresh and healthy as possible if they’re going to matter.
Chapman can still be productive in 2027. The version of him that showed up in early June is still in there somewhere. But players in their mid-thirties usually don’t trend toward better health or better numbers, and that leaves the Giants with a real concern: 2026 may have been the beginning of the decline, and that contract could end up looking rough.
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The choices now come down to fit as much as talent. San Francisco could take a more targeted route with a platoon bat such as Randal Grichuk or Lane Thomas to help against left-handed pitching, or aim higher with everyday options like Randy Arozarena or Seiya Suzuki, which would bring a different level of cost and roster pressure. However the Giants sort it out, the outfield remains one of the clearest places where they can change the look of the lineup, and the front office has to decide how aggressive it wants to be. [Read more 🡒]