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Fantasy baseball impact of the Matt Chapman trade

Matt Chapman brings some pop and more infield versatility to the Toronto Blue Jays. AP

The Oakland Athletics' rebuilding loss is the Toronto Blue Jays' pennant-chasing gain, as the A's traded third baseman Matt Chapman to the Jays, greatly boosting Toronto's infield defense, while also giving them an underrated power source.

Chapman possesses "otherworldly" defense, having secured a pair of AL Platinum Gloves (2018-19) and an additional Gold Glove (2021) while totaling the majors third-most Defensive Runs Saved (78) across all positions during his five-year big-league career. That's one of the things I like most about him, as elite defense breeds playing time, which is what you want from a fantasy baseball player in an offense as loaded as the one the Blue Jays have.

It's also a huge boon to a pitching staff that allowed the majors' highest percentage of batted balls hit to the left side of the field (38.1%) and "far left" as defined by our internal pitch-tracker (22.1%). Not to mention that Toronto's staff saw 44.7% of the ground balls they allowed go to the left side and 26.5% to the far left, both of those by far most in the majors.