Giants' Matt Chapman won't return this weekend, will be re-evaluated

Justice delos Santos, Bay Area News Group on Aug 1, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — The Giants hoped third baseman Matt Chapman would return this weekend from the abdominal strain that’s sidelined him for a month, but Chapman told reporters on Saturday that he will be re-evaluated due to lingering soreness while running.

“The plan was for me to try to be able to be ready to play this weekend. Unfortunately, we’ve been trying to push it to get me ready and trying to run at game speed. Running has been something that hasn’t felt great. It’s not the place where I can be able to be of help to the team,” Chapman said.

Additionally, the Giants announced that they’ve placed catcher/utilityman Jesús Rodríguez on the 10-day injured list with right elbow neuritis and selected infielder Nate Furman from Triple-A Sacramento.

Furman, 25, was the player-to-be-named later when the Giants traded Alex Cobb to the Cleveland Guardians in 2024. Over 95 games with the River Cats, Furman is hitting .284/.370/.405 with seven home runs and 18 steals. He has yet to make his major-league debut.

Chapman said he doesn’t see this setback as major and doesn’t believe he’s back to square one in his recovery. The 33-year-old shared that when the injury first happened, he experienced pain when walking and getting out of bed. Before this hiccup, however, Chapman progressed to doing all baseball activities.

“I felt like I was getting close, and then we ramped up and tried to really put me in game situations, whether that’s been running the bases or hitting off the Trajekt and pushing it with ground balls,” Chapman said. “Just been pushing it as much as we can, and it just hasn’t been recovering and bouncing back to a spot where we feel like I can play. I can’t come back and play in my very first game already playing through pain again. So, unfortunately, that’s kind of where we’ve left it.”

Chapman, who is hitting .235 with seven home runs over 84 games, had been dealing with discomfort in his abdomen for several weeks before injuring himself on June 30 while fielding a chopper. The Giants placed Chapman on the 10-day injured list with an abdominal strain on July 1.

“It’s mostly running, honestly, and defense,” Chapman said. “The swinging, I think I could most likely play right now. But then again, it could be one of those things where I have been taking a lot of swings, and maybe it doesn’t hurt in the moment, but it could be something that’s making me really sore after the fact.

“A lot of times, in the moment when I’m swinging, I don’t feel it — or defense. But then every morning, I wake up, it’s been feeling more and more sore and stuff like that. So, just trying to figure out how we can get me in a spot where I can play every day and help the team finish the season strong. Because that’s my goal: to come back and play as many games as I can with these guys and finish strong.”

Casey Schmitt took over as the Giants’ starting third baseman following Chapman’s injury, but he tore his left meniscus on Monday. Schmitt underwent surgery on Friday and will be out 6-8 weeks, potentially ending his season.

Regardless of whether Schmitt plays again this year, he’s already set career bests in home runs (21), runs (47), RBIs (55) and steals (9). The expectation is that Schmitt will be healthy going into the offseason.

“I think the biggest thing is that Casey should be proud of everything he did this season. Everybody’s always known how talented he is in the organization and how good of a player he is. He hadn’t put it together for a full season and maybe really shown that he’s an everyday player. But I talked to him and told him he should be proud because he solidified himself as an everyday player and somebody that this team needs and can count on.”