Matt Chapman, Logan Webb embrace long-term leadership roles with Giants

BALTIMORE — Logan Webb was a teenage pitching prospect, just a couple months removed from his high school graduation, when he received his unofficial welcome to professional baseball.

It was not a gracious welcome.

And Matt Chapman delivered it.

Webb was pitching for the Giants’ instructional league team in Arizona in the fall of 2014. It was a scrimmage against the A’s at old Indian School Park on the practice field that featured the same dimensions as the Giants’ waterfront ballpark in San Francisco — complete with the deepest expanse of Triples Alley in right-center field that measured 421 feet at the time.

“We used to have this rule where if you got 0-2, you had to throw a fastball outside,” Webb said. “That was the rule, don’t know why. And so I throw the pitch and Matt Chapman hits it off the 421-foot sign. I was like, ‘All right, this is professional baseball.’ I’d never had someone hit a ball like that off me. So yeah, Chappy actually gave me my first ‘welcome to professional baseball’ moment.

“And since that moment I was like, ‘I want to play with that guy.’”

Webb got the chance this season. And he’ll continue to have the chance for the better part of the decade. The Giants have plenty of unanswered questions about their direction, their roster construction and the future of their top decision-makers in baseball operations. But Webb, who turns 28 in November, is secured through 2028 after signing a five-year, $90 million extension last season. And now Chapman, 31, is locked in through 2030 after he and the Giants came to terms on a six-year, $151 million extension that includes a full no-trade clause.

The Giants have their unquestioned leaders in place: one on the pitching side, one to represent the position players. And the duo couldn’t be happier about the partnership that they are beginning to form — one that they believe will resonate far beyond the on-field symbiosis that results when you pair a three-time Gold Glove third baseman with a pitcher who routinely ranks among the league leaders in groundball rate.

In separate interviews, Webb and Chapman spoke about their mutual admiration, about the clubhouse culture and team identity that they plan to instill, and even about the personal life changes — a lack of sleep being among them — that they are about to experience together. Chapman and his wife, Taylor, became first-time parents when they welcomed a baby girl on Thursday. Webb and his wife, Sharidan, are expecting their first child to arrive in the first week of October.

“I can’t wait to be a dad,” Chapman said in an interview last week. “The timing is almost perfect, coming right at the end of the season. It’s a dream come true, honestly. I’ve always wanted long-term security just to know where I’m going to play and be able to set some roots somewhere. Now that we’re starting a family, it couldn’t be more perfect. We live in Arizona so spring training is right down the road as well. It’s a perfect setup. I get to play somewhere I really want to be.”

Chapman received waves of well wishes on Sept. 4, when news of his extension trickled through the clubhouse and he was a late scratch from the lineup so he could take his physical. Webb was among the players to offer congratulations. But there was more he wanted to express. It was something a little too personal to share in front of everyone else.

“So I texted him later that night,” Webb said. “And I told him, ‘The coolest part for me is our kids get to grow up together now.’ That’s awesome. We live five minutes away from each other in the offseason. I couldn’t be more excited for him, for his family, and selfishly, for myself. It’s going to be great.

“He and I have talked about it a lot. He brings a positive change to a lot of things. He and I are excited to keep trying to lead this team. We’re all in the same boat and we’ve got to right the ship. The San Francisco Giants organization is better than this. We see that. I know he sees that. We’ve got to keep pushing forward and signing Chappy is the best start we could have possibly had.”

No matter how the rest of the roster takes shape, or who is doing the shaping, the Giants know that they will have continuity in their clubhouse leadership for the foreseeable future: two players who not only have the emotional intelligence to read a room and the vocal skills to send the right message, but who also lead by example on the field in the simplest and most direct way.

By showing up.

Chapman, prior to going on the paternity list and missing this past week’s series at Baltimore, had played 95 percent of the Giants’ defensive innings at third base. And although Webb was unhappy with his performance in a five-inning start Thursday, he walked off the mound at Camden Yards as the major-league innings leader with 198 2/3. Even in a season that hasn’t been up to his standards, Webb has delivered 14 starts in which he’s completed at least seven innings while allowing no more than two earned runs. No other major-league pitcher has posted more than 12 of those starts.

“I didn’t realize what kind of competitor he was,” Chapman said of Webb. “Obviously, I knew of his success and that he’s talented, that he knows how to pitch and throw pitches for strikes and keep guys off-balance. But getting to play with him every single day, when he gets on the mound, he’s got that fire in him. I liked when I saw that. It’s everything you want to see in your ace.

“And watching him pitch every five days, I am more and more impressed with his ability to navigate a game and pitch deep into a game no matter what. He could give up runs early or not have his best stuff or he could get hit a little more than he anticipates. But he finds a way to get us deep in the game and have a chance. It’s kind of a lost art, that old-school way of pitching, and it’s been great to watch.”

What has Webb learned to appreciate about Chapman?

“That he’s been everything I heard about and more,” Webb said. “Great leader, gives it his all every single day, one of the best teammates. For me, it’s just exciting to know there’s a like-minded guy for what we want this to look like and he’s here with me for at least the next four years. It’s important you get guys like that. Coming up, I was lucky to be around really great Giants and I think he fits that mold to a T. Everyone saw what Buster (Posey) said about him. That’s the truth.

“(The front office) has a tough job to do. I don’t know everything that goes on. But from the get-go, BoMel (manager Bob Melvin) and some of the people here pinpointed a guy like Chappy and said, ‘I think that’s something we need here.’ And he’s been exactly that.

“He does all the right things. He runs every ball out. He makes every play. He understands every situation. He’s a brilliant baseball player, which is, I think, the most important thing. I’m just super excited to have a guy like that next to me and be able to share the same feelings and thoughts of what we want this to look like while we’re here.

“That’s a great face of the franchise to have.”

Chapman’s elite defense at third base has been a perfect match for a groundball specialist like Webb. (Andy Kuno / San Francisco Giants / Getty Images)

A shepherd is nothing without a flock to guide and the Giants were deficient in too many areas this season while plunging from contention. They will miss the postseason for the eighth time in 10 seasons since their last World Series championship in 2014. Aside from Webb, there are just a handful of players who remain from the 2021 team that won a franchise-record 107 regular-season games before losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a tense and tight NL Division Series. The Giants might have players who expect to win, but they do not have players who are accustomed to winning.

As important as leadership and clubhouse continuity might be, this is a roster that will require a significant infusion of talent — both from free agency and player development — to have consistent designs on October baseball again.

Chapman and Webb are already strategizing how they can help on that front, too.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but (Chapman) is saying hi to everyone who gets to third base,” Webb said. “Every player is going out of their way to say something to him. Maybe that’s a small thing. But I think that’s important for us in future offseasons. It’s been tough sledding (with free agents). I’ve been part of the conversations and it’s hard when you put effort into a guy and he goes somewhere else. So having Chappy will help for sure. It won’t just be a right-handed sinkerball pitcher trying to get a position player to come hit here, right? I can’t tell them what it’s going to be like.

“We’re still going to miss on guys. There are 29 teams who won’t sign (a free agent). But he’s very respected around baseball and they see how hard he plays every day and they want to be like that. It’s the same thing you saw with the Brandons and Buster and Longo (Evan Longoria). People around baseball wanted to play with those guys.”

Chapman said his ability to be an effective recruiter was among the reasons that a no-trade provision was a requirement to agreeing to terms. Chapman would have received no-trade protection after the 2028 season anyway once he achieved 10 years of service including five years with his current club. But the blanket security upfront was just as important, especially given the Giants’ recent pattern of transactions under Farhan Zaidi, who traded players like Mitch Haniger and Jorge Soler during or after the first season of a three-year contract.

Once Posey personally offered the no-trade protection while pushing the negotiations forward, the process wrapped up swiftly.

“It was the most important thing because if I’m going to be able to lead these guys in the clubhouse, I want them to know that I’m staying here,” Chapman said. “If I’m going to tell guys to sign here as free agents, why would they listen to me if I’m not going to be here or they think I might get traded? Being able to have control over that is huge, not just for the baseball side but for my life and for my family, knowing where I’m going to be. When you play long enough, that’s the situation you hope for.”

Webb, when asked in the past about taking a more vocal leadership role in the clubhouse, has expressed reservations because his job is to pitch every five days. He said he respects the everyday effort of position players too much to believe that he’s the right person when someone needs to be called out for a lack of focus or effort.

“He’s not wrong about that,” Chapman said. “I think position players have a bigger responsibility when it comes to leading because you’re in there every single day. Every team I’ve been on, position players have been the driving force, checking in with the guys, making sure we’re bringing it every day. But we can all pull from the same end of the rope. We all have the same goals. So this is exciting for me.

“I’ve never gotten a chance to set my roots somewhere. I knew Toronto was probably temporary and Oakland was temporary even though I gave everything I had every year there in both places. But knowing I get to really sink in here and will be here for the long haul, to be able to earn these guys’ respect and build that winning atmosphere, that’s the goal.

“And I think we bounce off each other well, Logan and myself. He’s got that laid-back personality, which I envy sometimes. I’m the one who’ll sometimes get fired up. It’ll be a good blend, I think.”

It might come with an official designation. The Giants haven’t had a captain since Jack Clark in 1984 — unless you count Brandon Belt’s unofficial declaration of his captaincy three seasons ago. It’s a mostly bygone tradition these days. But Melvin hasn’t ruled out making Chapman the team’s official captain next season.

The timing wasn’t right to consider anything along those lines this year. Not when Chapman was playing his first season in San Francisco. And certainly not when he arrived in mid-March following a lengthy contract stalemate.

But it’s clear that visibility and presentation are important to Melvin, whose first policy changes this past spring included the request that all players and coaches stand on the field for the national anthem — not as a show of patriotism but to demonstrate to their opponent that they were a united front and prepared to play.

There couldn’t be a more visible way to demonstrate Chapman’s leadership than to stitch a tackle twill “C” on his chest.

“I would love that,” Webb said. “I mean, do we do that here? If a guy like Buster wasn’t a captain, I don’t know how that would work. But if there’s a guy we’d change it for, I think it’d be Chappy. I don’t know who makes that decision, but if they ask my opinion on it, I’d love to have him as the captain.”

Whether he’s the captain or not, maybe Chapman can help lead in other areas, too. Now that he has a couple weeks’ head start on fatherhood, perhaps he can offer Webb pointers on how to change a diaper.

“They don’t know if they’re having a boy or girl,” Chapman said, smiling. “That’s crazy to me. The suspense would be killing me.”

(Top photo of Webb (left) and Chapman: Suzanna Mitchell / San Francisco Giants / Getty Images)