Matt Chapman came in at no. 3 when our 2015 Oakland Athletics Top Prospects list was published in February of that year. Assigned a 45 FV by our then lead prospect analyst Kiley McDaniel, Chapman had been drafted 25th overall out of Cal State-Fullerton the previous summer. Playing most of his initial professional season in the Low-A Midwest League, the 21-year-old third baseman swatted five home runs and put up a modest .672 OPS over 202 plate appearances.
What did Chapman’s 2015 scouting report look like? Moreover, what does he think of it all these years later? Wanting to find out, I shared some of what McDaniel (now with ESPN) wrote and asked Chapman to respond to it.
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“A standout hitter and pitcher for Fullerton that didn’t have much first-round buzz for reasons I didn’t understand.”
“He was thinking like I do,” Chapman replied. “I thought I was a little underrated. Obviously, the A’s took a chance on me and it all worked out. But that’s funny, because I thought I had all the tools. I just wasn’t getting the love.”
“Chapman, has an 80 arm and has been into the high 90s on the mound, but is mostly an arm-strength guy with a short track record of pitching.”
“They wanted me to be a pitcher, it seems like,” Chapman recalled. “I had a good arm, but I never really pitched. I only pitched two innings in college, but I think scouts thought I could be a pitcher, that maybe I profiled better that way. Some teams in the draft called to see if I would go as a pitcher. I wanted to play third base, though. I was never going to pitch. I don’t think my arm would have held, to be honest. I probably would have ended up having [Tommy John surgery].”
“Projects to be above average defensively at third.”
“Defense was my strong suit, for sure,” said Chapman, who has won five Gold Gloves in his eight big league seasons. “I think I was already big league ready to play defense — not hit, but ready to play defense. [As for “projected”] whoever wrote that maybe didn’t believe in me. I think I won the Gold Glove in college that year, so I was ready.”
“He put on a show in BP for Team USA, flashing raw power that was second only to Kyle Schwarber on the team.”
“That sounds pretty accurate,” Chapman said. “Schwarber has ridiculous power. And we played a lot of Home Run Derby on that USA team. All we tried to do during BP that summer was see who could hit the ball the farthest. A lot of guys on that team had power.”
“The question on Chapman, like [Matt] Olson, is how much contact he’ll make.”
“Fair assessment,” Chapman agreed. “I didn’t strike out very much in college, but once it’s pro baseball, you start trying to hit more homers and there is some more swing and miss. I mean, striking out is part of the game. It’s part of my game a little bit, for sure. It’s something that I’m always trying to improve. So, I don’t think that was very far off.”
“Fullerton emphasized an opposite field/ground ball type offensive approach similar to Stanford but not as subtle, which explains why Chapman never dominated at the plate as an amateur.”
“I agree with that,” Chapman said. “We were told to hit the ball on the ground the other way. I would bunt in college. I’d be hitting third and would bunt with runners on first and second with none out. You just do what your coaches want you to do, and be a good teammate.
“I don’t think that I reached my full potential offensively until I got to professional baseball, because then I got to change my approach. They wanted me to tap into my power a little bit more. I had the freedom to try to drive the ball instead of just getting base hits. I mean, that worked in college. It doesn’t work in college anymore, but when I played it was a lot about pitching and defense and small ball. We won a lot of games doing that, although it didn’t take us all the way. If you want to go all the way, you’ve got to hit.”
“Oakland sees 55 game power and a 50 bat on the low end, with comparisons like Matt Williams, Travis Fryman and Josh Donaldson for his upside.”
“I don’t know who the middle guy is, but I think Donaldson is a good comp,” said Chapman, who was in preschool during Fryman’s prime. “And it’s definitely an honor to be compared to Matt Williams. What a heck of a player. The fact that he’s been my coach now for many years… I mean, it’s pretty cool. I wish I’d have gotten to see him play more. I was pretty young when he was playing in the big leagues.
“So yeah, I think it was pretty accurate to be compared to them. Matt Williams, good hitter, good defender. Josh Donaldson, good defender, good hitter. I consider myself an above-average major league hitter. I’ve had some good seasons and some good numbers. I’d say my worst season is probably an average offensive season, and my best seasons have definitely been above average. I’d say that was a pretty fair assessment.”
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