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A's trade Matt Chapman to Blue Jays
Matt Chapman moves from California to Canada. Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

A's trade three-time Gold Glove 3B Matt Chapman to Blue Jays

The Oakland Athletics continued their offseason fire sale on Wednesday morning, trading three-time Gold Glove-winning third baseman Matt Chapman to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The move comes just two days after Oakland sent All-Star first baseman Matt Olson to the Atlanta Braves for a package of four players. In the Chapman deal, the Athletics acquired four prospects: starting pitcher Gunnar Hoglund, infielder Kevin Smith, pitcher Zach Logue and pitcher Kirby Snead.

Oakland selected Chapman with the 25th overall pick in the 2014 MLB June Amateur Draft, and the Victorville, Calif. native made his big league debut in 2017. After playing 84 games that season, Chapman became the A's full-time starter at the hot corner in 2018, collecting a career-high 152 hits and 42 doubles, while posting career-bests in batting average (.278), on-base percentage (.356) and on-base plus slugging percentage (.864) as well.

Chapman nabbed his first Gold Glove that year and finished seventh in the AL MVP voting but was even better during the 2019 campaign. In 2019, the 28-year-old posted career-highs in games played (156), at-bats (583), home runs (36), RBI (91) and runs scored (102), while finishing sixth in the MVP voting, earning his second straight Gold Glove and making his lone All-Star team of his career thus far.

Chapman led the AL in defensive wins above replacement (WAR) in both 2018 and 2019 at 2.9 and 3.3, respectively. After recording 10 home runs and 25 RBI over the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, Chapman's production dropped in 2021, as he finished with 27 home runs, 72 RBI, 75 runs, 111 hits, just a .210/.314/.403 slash line and a career-high 202 strikeouts, though he also finished with a career-high 80 walks.

The two-time Platinum Glove winner is expected to join a stacked Toronto infield that also includes Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

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