Skip to main content
Open this photo in gallery:

Toronto Blue Jays' Matt Chapman follows through on a single during the third inning of a spring training baseball game against the New York Yankees in Tampa, Fla., on March 26.Lynne Sladky/The Associated Press

The Toronto Blue Jays’ new third baseman is settling into the nicest spring-training facilities he’s ever experienced. Matt Chapman has already lined up a place to live near Toronto’s Rogers Centre once the season starts. And, arguably most important of all, he’s begun creating chemistry with Bo Bichette.

The Blue Jays acquired Chapman this spring from the Oakland Athletics, in exchange for four minor-league prospects. He’s one of baseball’s premier defensive third basemen, a winner of three Gold Glove awards in his five MLB seasons. He will be counted on to make big plays in Toronto, for a team with bold aspirations this year in the American League East – projected to be the most tightly contested division in the Majors.

Chapman has been in Dunedin at the Jays’ well-appointed new player development complex for a week and a half and calls it “unbelievable.” The 28-year-old infielder said he’s still getting his bearings around the massive complex that sprawls across 65 acres. It’s opulent, and includes everything from multiple fields to batting cages, weight-training space, sports science labs, hydrotherapy pools, classrooms, dining areas and a barber shop. There’s lots of tech, too, to help a player learn and succeed.

“The weight room is huge,” Chapman said with a laugh, fitting in an interview between a weight-training session and an on-field workout. “And those batting cages – they’re as nice as any I’ve ever seen. I like having all these options, the facilities and all this information.”

Chapman grew up in Southern California, playing baseball year-round. He dabbled in football as a kid, as well as lacrosse, hockey and soccer, but played no sport as consistently as baseball.

Chapman was pretty good, so he got to play up with the older kids. At nine, he liked being behind the plate as the catcher for 12-year-old pitchers. Many of the bigger boys objected to having this young kid back there, insisting they threw too hard and that he wouldn’t be able to handle their stuff. Their doubts fueled Chapman. After some initial struggles, he learned to handle every ball that came at him.

“I felt like my glove is something that always was good,” Chapman recalled. “I was a catcher, then moved to shortstop. Even when I was a pitcher, I tried to play every single ground ball while I was pitching. So I feel like I was always kind of a ball hog.”

It’s easy to see that natural aggressiveness and assertiveness in highlight reels of his defensive plays in the hot corner as a pro.

The reels show Chapman at third for the A’s, chasing down all manner of fly balls, foul balls, bunts and line drives that travel anywhere near the vicinity of third base. He dives, twists, slides, leaps, bends, or contorts if he needs to – whatever is needed to get the ball in his glove. And he can recover from any of those acrobatic positions to zip a ball across the field, on the hop, precisely to first base.

“It’s where I feel most comfortable on a baseball field. Yeah, I love doing it,” Chapman said. “You become a pitcher’s best friend for sure, making all those plays. Just saving runs is something that maybe flies under the radar a little bit, you know – maybe not as exciting as hitting a big home run. But it could be just as valuable.”

During the 2021 season, he led all third basemen with a .987 fielding percentage on his way to the AL Golden Glove at the position. He’s also earned two Platinum Glove awards, given annually to the best overall defender in each league.

“I take pride in it,” Chapman said. “I think I’m the best defensive third baseman, and you have to go out there and prove it every year.”

Then Chapman paused to amend that, saying Nolan Arenado could well make that claim too, with the St. Louis Cardinals third baseman having earned the last nine National League Gold Glove awards at the position. Chapman and Arenado both attended El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Calif.

“Me and him are in that same category. I think we go back and forth,” Chapman said. “Obviously, he’s got more awards. So he’s better than me. So I need to clear that up. He is better than me defensively. I still have a lot to prove.”

Arenado is two years older, and he and Chapman played one season on the same high-school team.

“I got to kind of see how he went about his business. I think he’s somebody that I kind of emulated,” Chapman said. “Then I kind of created my own style off that.”

With the Jays, Chapman can pass along what he’s learned to younger infielders. And he’s set to make an intriguing duo on the field alongside Bichette, the 24-year-old star shortstop.

“It’s been pretty easy. Bo’s a really cool kid. I’ve gotten to know him pretty well. It’s only been 10 days, but it feels like it’s been a month,” Chapman said. “Bo’s a Florida guy, but I’m a California guy. I feel like both of our personalities are similar so I think we’re gonna have a good connection on the left side.”

The two have spent a lot of time together on the field in this condensed spring training, learning one another’s tendencies, establishing their spacing and their communication.

“He’s definitely a smart baseball player,” Chapman said. “It’s gonna take more than just a spring training for us though. I’m sure the beginning of the season we’ll still be figuring some stuff out. But so far, so good. "

Chapman homered in his first spring-training game as a Blue Jay. He’ll aim to rebound offensively after a down year at the plate in 2021. It may be been partly due to undergoing hip surgery after an injury-shortened 2020 season.

The Jays are going to need his bat, too. The team has unfinished business after missing the playoffs by one game last year. It has grander plans for the fall of 2022.

“I’m surrounded by a bunch of guys that want to win, a bunch of guys that have confidence, but they don’t have big egos,” Chapman said. “They believe, but they still feel like they have a lot to prove, and they’re hungry. And you know, that’s exactly how I feel too.”

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe