Examining Matt Chapman's poor start to season for Giants

San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Chapman. Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Examining Matt Chapman's poor start to season for Giants

By Vanessa Serrao | Last updated May 22, 2026 4:46 PM ET

Matt Chapman is having one of the worst starts of his MLB career as a core member of the San Francisco Giants.

He's managed to hit only a home run across 49 games, pointing to his offensive power outage. At this time last season, Chapman had hit eight home runs.

In 2024, Chapman signed a six-year, $151 million contract extension with the Giants. For a guy who's making roughly $25 million a year and is in the second year of his six-year contract, he sure isn't performing like it.

His .154 batting average over his last 25 games ranks second-worst in MLB. As well, his .491 OPS is the worst in the league.

Matt Chapman in his last 25 games:

.154 Batting Average (2nd worst)
.491 OPS (worst)
0 Home Runs

He’s in year two of a 6 year $151M contract… pic.twitter.com/p77JXAwSHE
— SleeperMLB (@SleeperMLB) May 22, 2026

Digging into Matt Chapman's struggles this season

Chapman has typically contributed offensive value by generating reliable power. But his lack of extra-base hits this season has highlighted him as a less productive hitter.

Teammate Willy Adames has also been experiencing offensive woes, which have lingered since late April. Both of their continuous slumps have unfortunately been strong elements linked to the Giants' struggles.

On the season, Chapman is batting .226 with 16 RBI, a 24% strikeout rate and a .613 OPS. The one home run he's hit is putting him on pace for a career low.

In the last two seasons with the Giants, Chapman has combined for 48 home runs. He also stole a career-high 15 stolen bases in 2024.

His groundball-heavy production has resulted in a skyrocketed groundball rate of 50.4%, preventing him from generating line drives or flyballs.

Chapman has typically been recognized as one of the most reliable power hitters in the game. But his plummeted hard hit rate of 31.9% is a significant decline from 2025 (47.6%). In addition, his slugging percentage of .312 and Isolated Power (ISO) of 0.86 have also hit career lows.

Vanessa Serrao

Serrao is a freelance baseball writer who has covered all MLB teams, with particular expertise on the Toronto Blue Jays. She is a member of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America.

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