Matt Chapman unleashed a ridiculously perfect throw from beyond the third-base coach's box
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Matt Chapman is less than a full calendar year into his MLB career and he's already established a reputation as one of the game's finest defensive third basemen, right up there with former El Toro High School teammate Nolan Arenado. (It must be an Orange County thing.) When rapper G-Eazy compared him to the A's six-time Gold Glove Award winner Eric Chavez, it was no joke.
So, it shouldn't surprise anyone that Chapman was at it again during Tuesday night's 4-3 loss to the Rays. In the top of the seventh, Carlos Gómez hit a fair ball past the bag that Chapman had to range far to his right to retrieve. By the time he was ready to throw the ball on the run, he was beyond the third-base coach's box.
It didn't matter:
That's an unbelievable throw, especially considering that Gomez still runs well at age 32.
"You don't see that play very often," said manager Bob Melvin to MLB.com's Jane Lee. "I think I've maybe seen [Manny] Machado make it. It's almost like a desperation throw, but it wasn't. He practices it every day. Maybe not over in the third-base coaching box, but you don't see that play very often."
Bravo.