Very Interesting 2020 and 2021 Seasons for A's Corner Infielders Named Matt
The Oakland Athletics traded corner infielders Matt Olson and Matt Chapman following the 2021 season. Each of the Matts had
an interesting season in their final two years with the team. First baseman Olson batted a measly .195 during the 2020 season, yet
easily led the A's in home runs (14), RBIs (42), and
total bases (89). During the season, he had a crazy 11-game stretch in
which all seven of his hits were home runs.
That stretch is partly why he ended the season with more RBIs (42) than hits (41). That was the second time in MLB history that a player
had more RBIs than hits over a full season. Mark McGwire
achieved this in 1999 (147 RBIs, 145 hits) with the St. Louis Cardinals. Like Olson, McGwire played first base for the Oakland A's at the start of
his MLB career. In 2023, yet another former A's player had more RBIs than hits: Max Muncy, who played for the A's in 2015 and 2016, had
105 RBIs and 102 hits for the Dodgers in 2023.
Third baseman Chapman followed his namesake and fellow corner infielder's strange 2020 season with an odd season of his own. In 2021, he
had a 16-game hitting streak. That was tied for the sixth longest in the American League. What
made the 16-game hitting streak so surprising was that Chapman was just a .210 hitter during the '21 season. How did a .210 hitter have a 16-game hitting
streak? In
Games 3-14 of the streak, he had exactly one hit. In the first
two games of the 16-game hitting streak (3 hits each), Chapman's batting average went from .201 to .220. In the subsequent 12 games, it went from .220 to .226.
The twelve-game streak with exactly one hit was the
longest such streak in A's history.
The longest one-hit streak in MLB history was a 16-gamer by St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Ted Sizemore in 1975.
On top of the low batting average, Chapman set the A's
single-season franchise record for most strikeouts with 202 strikeouts. It was not all bad for Chapman however as he saw
the most pitches per plate appearance of any MLB player with 4.30. He also hit
27 home runs (third most among American League third basemen) and won a
Gold Glove.