Chapman wins 2024 Willie Mac Award to cap first Giants season

Chapman wins 2024 Willie Mac Award to cap first Giants season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — Matt Chapman’s epic month continued on Friday night.

Chapman won the Willie Mac Award, given annually to the team’s most inspirational player and voted on by teammates, coaches, support staff and fans. The prestigious honor capped a huge first season in San Francisco for Chapman, who signed a six-year contract extension earlier this month and became a father last week.

“It was a cherry on top of a great month,” Chapman said. “Obviously it would be better if we were going to the playoffs — that’s my goal, and that’s what I’m going to work this offseason to make possible next year, but besides not making the playoffs, it’s been a great month with my daughter and the contract and getting this award. I just feel blessed.”

Chapman has been the team’s best player and ranks sixth in the National League in Wins Above Replacement. He has a .787 OPS and has a strong chance to win his fifth Gold Glove at third base. With 27 homers, Chapman enters the final series with an outside shot at becoming the first Giant to reach 30 since Barry Bonds in 2004.

Chapman has played in 151 of the first 159 games this season, giving manager Bob Melvin a consistent presence on both sides of the ball during a season that has included plenty of turnover with the lineup. He missed two games in June with a hamstring injury, but otherwise only has missed time for the birth of his daughter and to take a physical for the $151 million extension.

Chapman didn’t sign with the Giants until after spring training already had started, but it didn’t take him long to become a team leader. Longtime team employees say Chapman is as good in the clubhouse as any veteran they have had in recent years, and he has been instrumental in helping the Giants celebrate wins, creating a ceremony that includes the third baseman donning a referee’s outfit.

The Giants committed to Chapman long-term because of the defense and power, but also because they plan to have him and Logan Webb lead their clubhouse through the rest of the decade.

“I just feel like I’m being myself,” Chapman said. “I think people understand that I really care and that I really want to win and I’m willing to put other people first, put my teammates first, and I think it’s just kind of in my nature. I do whatever I can to win, I guess. It’s hard to put my finger on it.

“I’ve never come in and demanded to be a leader, demanded this, I just come in and try to motivate my teammates and be the best teammate I can be. I think the way I go about my business and interactions with teammates is all directed toward trying to get the best out of everybody, and that’s what I’m going to continue to try to do.”

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