Oakland Athletics: Matt Chapman shows out for Father’s Day
By Will Summers
When a team calls up a top prospect, you want them to make an instant impact. When a player gets his first shot at The Show, he’d likely prefer it to be in time for the holiday of Dads.
Lucky for the Oakland Athletics, their number four prospect, Matt Chapman, has been a big factor in their three-game win streak during Father’s Day weekend. You couldn’t ask for a better start to a career.
Third baseman and (kind of) hometown hero Matt Chapman made his MLB debut on Thursday night against the New York Yankees. He was hitless is his first game, but he put together an encouraging ten innings anyway. While he went 0-for-3, he walked twice and scored a run. Oakland would walk off in the 10th with a Khris Davis single.
The Friday night feature saw Chapman again in the lineup to face Luis Severino. His first major-league RBI came in the bottom of the second inning. Chapman grounded softly to third base, scoring Yonder Alonso. For a short time, that play was his first career hit, but it was overturned on a challenge.
Chapman would also log another career first later in the night. The Yankees were up 6-5 in the eighth before Chapman stepped to the plate. He delivered his first career hit, a two RBI single to left field. The A’s would shut New York down in the ninth and take the second game of the four-game set, 7-6. Chapman’s first hit would prove to be his first game-winner.
With the official arrival of the weekend, we saw Chapman put up a more impressive stat line for casual fans. The 24-year-old went 2-for-4, with a double and a run scored to power the Oakland Athletics over Masahiro Tanaka and the Yankees.
Chapman’s major-league career is just three games young. The start could not have come at a better time. Chapman has the chance to put the nail in the coffin, taking the fourth game and sweeping the New York Yankees on Father’s Day in Oakland.
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Not a bad tribute to his dad, who will quite likely be in attendance. Chapman has a lot to thank him for, as we all do. It’s a tough job to do. Many of us fall in love with the game with our dads right behind us.