{"id":657989,"date":"2026-04-02T03:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T03:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/657989\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T03:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T03:08:13","slug":"sf-giants-matt-chapman-casey-schmitt-clear-air-on-tense-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/657989\/","title":{"rendered":"SF Giants’ Matt Chapman, Casey Schmitt clear air on tense moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN DIEGO \u2014 There was no need for a professional lip reader to decipher the four words that Matt Chapman directed at Casey Schmitt.<\/p>\n

During a fifth-inning mound visit, television cameras caught Chapman appearing to tell Schmitt to \u201ccatch the (expletive) ball\u201d after Schmitt couldn\u2019t reel in a high-but-catchable throw from Chapman. Following the Giants\u2019 7-1 loss to the Padres<\/a>, Chapman and Schmitt said they smoothed things over and that there is no lingering issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all brothers here,\u201d Chapman said. \u201cHeat of the moment. I\u2019ve already talked to Casey. It\u2019s all good. I figured that people would try to make that a big deal, but it\u2019s baseball and stuff happens. We all learn from it. We\u2019ll move on. I already told him it was kind of heat of the moment and I just wanted to get those outs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to win games, obviously. I\u2019m not mad about it or anything like that. It\u2019s baseball,\u201d Schmitt said.<\/p>\n

The Giants\u2019 two errors on Wednesday afternoon both involved Chapman making a throw on the run to Schmitt, who wasn\u2019t able to make the catch and record the out cleanly.<\/p>\n

In the first inning with a runner on first, the Padres\u2019 Manny Machado pulled a chopper to Chapman, who charged hard and fired to first. The throw arrived in time, but Schmitt\u2019s hand hit Machado and the ball rolled into shallow right field. Jackson Merrill, who took off from first on the pitch, scored the game\u2019s first run. Schmitt was charged with an error.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back, I should\u2019ve probably came off the bag to get that one just to make sure you keep the ball in the infield,\u201d Schmitt said.<\/p>\n

A similar play unfolded in the bottom of the fifth, one that prompted Chapman\u2019s fiery words. With runners at the corners and two outs, San Diego\u2019s Xander Bogaerts hit a slow roller at shortstop Willy Adames. Chapman had the better angle and momentum, so he cut in front of Adames and fired to Schmitt.<\/p>\n

Chapman\u2019s throw was catchable despite being a bit high, but Schmitt stretched too early and the ball deflected off the tip of his glove, allowing the game\u2019s second run to score. This time, Chapman was assessed an error. When assessing the play, Schmitt said he stretched too early and described the error as \u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pitching coach Justin Meccage visited starting pitcher Adrian Houser following Chapman\u2019s error, and as the infielders met on the mound, Chapman delivered his pointed words to Schmitt.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was upset. He\u2019s trying to win the game,\u201d said manager Tony Vitello. \u201cI think he was upset a couple of at-bats, too. We were close, as was he a couple of different times to getting on base, whether it\u2019s ball four or squaring up pitches. Guys were on some pitches, or just weren\u2019t quite on them enough. I think there was frustration from everybody throughout the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly after the incident, Chapman and Schmitt said they talked things over during the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my guy,\u201d Schmitt said. \u201cHe\u2019s always been in my corner, always helping me out with everything. It is what it is. He\u2019s right: I should\u2019ve caught the ball. We\u2019re good. We\u2019re men here. We\u2019re trying to win games.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to make better throws, too, so it\u2019s fine,\u201d Chapman said. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody\u2019s going to put too much stock into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schmitt, 27, has spent time at all four infield positions but has far less experience at first base (24 games) compared to second base (91 games), third base (70 games) and shortstop (53 games). In fact, Schmitt didn\u2019t play his first game at first base at the professional level until last year.<\/p>\n

With Rafael Devers managing a hamstring ailment and top prospect Bryce Eldridge<\/a> currently playing for Triple-A Sacramento, Schmitt has started at first base in each of San Francisco\u2019s first six games of the season.<\/p>\n

Luis Arraez has more experience at first base (263 games) than Schmitt, and with Devers currently limited to DH duties, the Giants\u2019 best defensive lineup would be Schmitt at second and Arraez at first. That said, Arraez signed with the Giants under the pretense that they would allow him to play second base.<\/p>\n

Vitello said postgame that Jerar Encarnacion, who made his season debut as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning, is a possibility to start against the New York Mets\u2019 left-handed David Peterson on Thursday. Daniel Susac, who made his major league debut on Wednesday as a defensive replacement, could start for Patrick Bailey as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m as eager as anybody to get the guy up there,\u201d Vitello said of Encarnacion. \u201cI have confidence in him in any situation. I assume the opponent does not like Jerar being in the batter\u2019s box as physical as he is. Any way we can get him in there would be great.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO \u2014 There was no need for a professional lip reader to decipher the four words that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2408],"tags":[5,5776,2178,162,5774,5775,853,4,5777,378,5778,66,4343,4340,4344,4341,4342,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-657989","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-giants","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-giants","12":"tag-giants-hq","13":"tag-inside-sports","14":"tag-latest-headlines","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-peninsula","17":"tag-san-francisco","18":"tag-san-francisco-county","19":"tag-san-francisco-giants","20":"tag-sanfrancisco","21":"tag-sanfranciscogiants","22":"tag-sf","23":"tag-sf-giants","24":"tag-sfgiants","25":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116332914757426273","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}