Do You Have a Favorite Matt Chapman Defensive Play? A's 1B Matt Olson Does

Oakland Athletics first baseman Matt Olson has won back-to-back Gold Gloves, so he knows something about good defense. He says that he is constantly being wowwed by A's third baseman Matt Chapman's defensive work at third base.

Is there one particular defensive play turned in by Matt Chapman that stands out for you?

Matt Olson, the A’s first baseman who, like fellow two-time Gold Glove winner Chapman, has seen just about every defensive play the third baseman has made in two-plus Major League seasons.

Talking on a just-released Sports Info Solutions’ podcast, Olson singled one out, a ball off the bat of Yangervis Solarte, a switch-hitting Braves infielder who was then playing for the Blue Jays in 2018.

“Solarte was hitting lefty and kind of capped the ball to Chappy’s right,” Olson recalled in the podcast. “(Chapman) was in the shift at shortstop. He runs almost at a 45-degree angle backwards, gets to the ball, almost no-look threw it, and it hits me right in the chest. He got him.

“I’m almost … `Are you kidding me?’ There is such a long list with the way he plays where, when the ball is halfway to me, (I’m thinking) `How did he just do that?’”

Olson, an Atlanta native, is back home and has been for about six weeks since baseball went into lockdown mode with the rise of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in mid-March. He told the interview, Mark Simon, that he’s “getting my makeshift workouts in” now that his local gym has been shut down.

Beyond that, he said he’s “doing a lot of a lot of video games and Netflix, just like everybody else.” He’s particularly into NBA 2K20, but MLB The Show and Fortnite are also high on the Olson gaming agenda while waiting for the return of baseball.

Ask to describe a play of his own that he was particularly proud of, he talked about watching Reds’ first baseman Joey Votto, who like Olson bats left-handed but throws right-handed.

“I’ve always practiced this since I saw Joey Votto do it seven or eight years ago,” Olson said. “He was holding a guy on first, came back toward the bag (to field a ball), touched it, then flipped it under his arm … to second base.

“I tried to practice that one. I finally got one off (New York Yankees’ outfielder Brett) Gardner. I was able to throw Gary Sanchez out at second.”

Olson missed five weeks at the beginning for 2019 due to an injury, but by the end of the season he had 18 defensive runs saved, seven more than anyone else in baseball and the best at first base since the A’s Daric Barton had 19 in 2010.

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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