Veteran SF Giants third baseman has an early lead in Gold Glove ranking

Matt Chapman has won five Gold Glove Awards and two Platinum Glove Awards in his 10-year career. Could he add another Gold Glove to his résumé? The veteran SF Giants third baseman has an early edge in the rankings.

The Gold Glove voting format has improved in recent years. The award is determined by an objective measure, the SABR Defensive Index (SDI), along with voting from managers and coaches. That SDI accounts for 25 percent of the overall vote and is updated a couple of times throughout the season.

The first update occurred recently, and Chapman is near the top of the list. He is second among all NL fielders with 8.2 SDI. Only Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs is ahead of him in that category with 10.4 SDI.

Chapman is the only Giants player to appear in the top-25 defenders in the NL. He also leads all third basemen by a good margin. Maikel Garcia of the Kansas City Royals is second among NL third basemen with 5.8 SDI. In the NL, Max Muncy of the Los Angeles Dodgers is second with 4.2 SDI.

Veteran SF Giants third baseman Matt Chapman ranks as one of the best defenders in baseball

Only one player has a better mark in the AL than Chapman. Cody Bellinger of the New York Yankees leads all AL defenders with 9.4 SDI.

By every defensive metric, Chapman continues to grade out as one of the best defensive third basemen in baseball. He leads all third basemen with 12 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), but does not rank as well in Outs Above Average (one) and Fielding Run Value (three). That said, they still paint him as an above-average glove at the hot corner.

Chapman is second at his position with eight errors. The number of errors does not factor into the voting as much as it once did. Plus, it bears mentioning that some of his errors could be attributed to not having strong defenders at first base. Players with a lot of positional range tend to have more opportunities to make errors as well.

While the 33-year-old's defense continues to grade out well, his bat has rebounded nicely after an extremely slow start. He is in the second year of a six-year, $151 million deal. This includes a full no-trade clause. The Giants will need him, along with Rafael Devers and Willy Adames, to get back to their career numbers.

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