The Athletics are set to promote third base prospect Matt Chapman, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. He is expected to join the team for tomorrow’s game.
Chapman, 24, was taken 25th overall in the 2014 draft out of Cal State Fullerton. He has steadily marched up the ranks for the A’s, and will now reach Oakland after hitting well in his second stint at Triple-A.
Through 203 plate appearances at Nashville this year, Chapman carries a .259/.350/.592 triple-slash with 16 home runs. Though he has also racked up 63 strikeouts, Chapman has also drawn 25 walks, so he is at least able to take some free passes despite the swing-and-miss in his game.
Chapman is regarded as a quality defender at the hot corner, which helps boost his profile quite a bit. He drew consideration at the back end of the top-100 prospect lists of both Baseball America and MLB.com entering the season.
As MLBTR’s Jason Martinez wrote earlier this week, a promotion seemed imminent with Chapman upping his performance throughout the year. As Slusser notes, Trevor Plouffe’s struggles at the plate and Ryon Healy’s iffy glovework make for an opening. It’s unclear just what the team will do with Plouffe, though Healy will presumably stay in the lineup at first or DH.
As ever, service time remains a key consideration. Per Slusser, the A’s believe they are not at risk of allowing Chapman an added year of arbitration eligibility. Because he can only achieve 110 days of service through the end of the season, Chapman is more or less assured of failing to reach Super Two status after the 2019 campaign. Regardless, he won’t have enough service to reach the open market until at least 2024.
Finally!
freaking finally! he can’t be any worse than watching Trevor Plouffe’s painful at bats
I am not expecting him to hit but his defense will be just what the A’s need.
This is a rare move when the A’s promote a top prospect. Hopefully they don’t do the Chris Carter/Michael Taylor on him and send him down if he doesn’t shine in his first 20 ABs