San Francisco Giants Veteran Needs To Avoid Late Spring Swoon for Team To Compete

For the San Francisco Giants to keep pace with their peers, a key veteran needs to avoid his annual late-spring downswing in production.

Mar 30, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman (26) reacts after hitting a two-run home run in the sixth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. | Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants have been arguably the most pleasant surprise in the early going of the 2025 MLB regular season.

Off to a 9-3 start, they have surpassed expectations early in the season with some excellent pitching performances and timely hitting at the plate. Several players have stepped up their production offensively, helping the team get out of the blocks quickly.

However, their hot start still hasn’t been enough to separate from their rivals in the NL West.

Despite being 9-3, they are separated by only a half-game in the division since the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres are tied for the most wins in baseball with 10 apiece, as both are off to just as impressive starts as the Giants.

Keeping pace with their rivals is going to be a tall task.

If San Francisco is going to remain competitive, not only in the NL West but the playoff picture in general, they are going to need the strong starts of several players to be sustained long term.

Someone who needs to find a way to avoid their annual tough spell is third baseman Matt Chapman.

“... he’ll need to avoid the May swoon that has often haunted him. Chapman has an .850 career OPS in March/April but .676 in May -- his lowest in any month,” written in the piece by Andrew Simon and Manny Randhawa of MLB.com.

He is playing at an MVP-level early in the campaign with a .257/.395/.486 slash line. Two home runs and two doubles have been hit, to go along with eight RBI.

He is one of five starters who have an OPS over .850, along with outfielders Heliot Ramos, Jung Hoo Lee and Mike Yastrzemski, and designated hitter Wilmer Flores.

His WAR is the highest on the team thus far, as the veteran third baseman is making an impact not only with his bat, but also with his stellar defensive ability in the field.

Now, the Giants just need him to carry that production through the spring into the summer and avoid the drop in production that he experiences every year in May.

If San Francisco is going to have any hope of keeping pace with the Dodgers and Padres, their best player cannot go into a month-long slump like that again.

It is clear how difficult keeping pace with arguably two of the best teams in baseball will be for the duration of a season since they have also been an elite team thus far but still don't lead the division.

That gap will grow if Chapman goes cold in May, but at least the team has other players performing at a high level who can pick up the slack if his difficulties surface again.