Matt Chapman calls out clear adjustment SF Giants must make to keep him happy

SF Giants Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman has had his hand torn up a few times by the infield dirt at Oracle Park this season. He recently called out the dirt so expect there to be some changes forthcoming.

This comes via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle whose story on Chapman's comments can be viewed here. Chapman said that the dirt is starting to affect the way he is playing and Slusser shared on social media that Chapman has torn open holes in his hand throughout the year when diving on the dirt.

SF Giants third baseman Matt Chapman calls out Oracle Park dirt

Chapman clearly feels that the hardness of the dirt is affecting the way he plays defense. Is this borne out by the numbers? This season Chapman has made 12 errors at third base in 1,011 and 1/3 innings played. In 2025 he committed 15 errors in 1,338 innings at third.

Digging into the advanced statistics, Statcast ranks Chapman sixth among qualified third baseman in Outs Above Average. Last season, Statcast ranked him first among all qualified third basemen although maybe part of that has to do with the fact that he missed more time this season on the IL.

It is important to remember that Chapman went on the IL with a wrist injury so that could be a factor in his slightly worse defensive stats this season.

Judging by the eye test Chapman has still been superb defensively. It seems like every series he makes at least one extraordinary play. On Friday against the Dodgers he made an amazing play diving to his left before delivering a seed over to first base for the out which first baseman Dominic Smith had to stretch and sacrifice his hamstring for.

Chapman is one of the most important players on the Giants. What he brings to the table both on offense and defense is incredibly important and the team's record when he is on the field versus off the field is jarring.

With how important he is and the fact that he is under contract the rest of this decade, it stands to reason that the Oracle Park groundskeeping crew will be making some changes to the hardness of the dirt going forward.

The guy is a five-time Gold Glove Award winner so if he is unhappy with his fielding surface then that means something probably is a tiny bit off and the Giants will surely do all they can to keep him happy.

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