Chapman Keeping up Hopes of a Quick Return to Third Base for Athletics

Oakland Athletics third baseman Matt Chapman hates to be out of the starting lineup and says he doesn't quite know what to do with himself when he's not on the field. But with his right hip giving him problems, he's going to have to watch the next few games from the stands.

Matt Chapman’s default status is as the everyday third baseman for the Oakland A’s.

Anything else doesn’t quite compute.

So this week, when a bout with right hip tendinitis has him on the shelf, he’s got to find workarounds.

He came out of the game Sunday against the Padres. He didn’t play Monday. He won’t play in Tuesday’s doubleheader. He’ll get back to baseball activities, he hopes on Wednesday. After that, who knows?

Chapman will be sitting in the stands for the two games Tuesday, something he finds odd and almost unnerving.

“I think I don't really know what to do with myself,” he said. “I was sitting out in the stands and it feels weird. But I used to be a little worse when I'd missed the game. The last thing I want to do is be a distraction. So, I'm watching guys take their at bats and watching Chad (Pinder) play third base.

“For the most part I'm not trying to distract those guys and I don't want to like bother anybody. It’s hard to sit still in one spot, so I’ve definitely been bouncing around in the stands, the dugout or in the (batting) cage watching guys, but just trying to do my part even if I can't play.”

Chapman hasn’t been advised to take cortisone or any other shots. He just waiting for his body to recover. In the past that has happened quickly. It this case, it can’t happen quickly enough.

“We’re just waiting it out and see if we can calm down that area,” Chapman said Tuesday morning, adding that he feels “okay.” As much and as hard as the A’s third baseman plays, he’s frequently hurting, but he deems that as “okay.”

“I'd be lying to you to tell you if I said I feel great every single day that I go out there,” Chapman said. “But for the most part, you feel good enough to give whatever you can that day. But it's something that kind of been, you know, bugging me this this whole season, just kind of like, didn't feel like I had my legs under me.”

The fact that the A’s went through four weeks of spring training, then baseball went on hold for almost four months, then started up again after a three-week summer camp plays into that. So does the five days off last week following Daniel Mengden’s positive test for COVID-19.

Chapman struck out his first three at-bats back Friday, grounded out, and struck out seven more times in the next two days before the injury, aggravated by a spinning throw he made in the fourth inning Sunday, forced him to come out of the game. That’s 10 strikeouts in 11 at-bats.

“Maybe it’s just the consistencies of not playing all the time and just not getting into that routine,” Chapman said. “I do play hard and I think it benefits me when I play every day. And I get to kind of like, stay in that kind of like mode. It was just my body being kind of confused with all the stuff that's been gone through this year. And it's just kind of like, you know, not responding well.

”It was kind of bugging me and just wasn't getting better. And I was okay with it bothering me during my at-bats. But once I started playing defense and was having to think about every step I took, it was like hard enough to go out there and compete when you’ve got a clear mind, but when you start to think about something like that, it felt weird in my head. So, if I can’t make plays on defense right now, I don’t want to be on the (field).”

For the moment, the A’s don’t see Chapman going on the injured list. Manager Bob Melvin said a trip to the IL for Chapman was something the team wanted to avoid if possible, so the workout Wednesday could be a signal of which way things are going.

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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