Texas notes: Chapman returns from injuries

Matt Chapman learned one thing for sure during his first full season in the Oakland Athletics system a year ago.

"You can't always plan things," said Chapman, who started this season at Double-A Midland after a 2015 in which he put up positive numbers when he wasn't hampered by injuries to his knee and wrist.

Chapman, a first-round pick out of Cal State-Fullerton in 2014, begins this year as the A's No. 6 prospect after he hit .250 with 23 home runs, 57 RBIs and a .907 OPS at Class A Advanced Stockton. That line came in only 304 at-bats, too, after he missed the first month of the season with a knee injury and then three weeks in August with a sore wrist. The latter injury cost Chapman even more at-bats, since he had been headed to the Arizona Fall League before October surgery put an end to that opportunity.

"You can look at it both ways," Chapman said. "Going to the Fall League would have been an unbelievable experience, surrounding yourself with the best up-and-coming players, but you can turn a negative into a positive. I got my wrist fixed, and I got to recover. My body got right and came out this spring ready to go."

Chapman built off the rehab to have a solid spring in big league camp. A non-roster invitee, Chapman hit .295 with six home runs and 14 RBIs in 44 Spring Training at-bats. He was sent down to Minor League camp, but not until the final week of spring. Chapman's looking to build on a debut season in which he flashed more power in 80 games than he did in three seasons at Cal State-Fullerton -- he hit 13 home runs in three seasons with the Titans and said the improvement in power numbers is a sign of early development.

"I just tried to tap into the power that was there," he said. "Maybe didn't fully have the right swing just yet. You're still trying to get better."

It could have been a bit better if it wasn't for the injuries. He didn't take a swing in a game until May 7 last year but was hitting .256 with 23 home runs by early August. Then came another stint on the disabled list, this time because of a wrist injury that led to surgery.

"I think it was just wear and tear throughout the year, and then finally one day it got unbearable," he said. "I tried to rehab it, but the tear wasn't going to fully recover. So we decided to get surgery, and it was probably a good decision, because now I'm totally healthy."

He looked healthy this spring against Major League pitching and is trying to keep it going in his first season in the Texas League. Chapman homered in the third game of the season but had only four hits through the first nine games. After this past Sunday's games, he's just 7-for-32 on the season, but five of those hits have been for extra bases. On Sunday, he hit two home runs and drove in five runs in a victory over Northwest Arkansas.

The key to keeping the good numbers going, Chapman thinks, is simple -- it's what eluded him last year: consistent at-bats.

"Definitely," he said. "To be able to play every day and stay healthy and help the team win ballgames, and show them that I'm an asset to the team. It's a tough enough sport to not play every day, or to be injured or to come off the bench is a tough thing to do."

In brief

Hot start: It hasn't even been a year since Alex Bregman was drafted No. 2 overall by the Houston Astros, but he's already tearing up Texas League pitching. The Corpus Christi shortstop is batting .400 and leads the Texas League with five home runs and 13 RBIs through 10 games. Already ranked as the Astros' top overall prospect, Bregman took a 10-game hitting streak into Monday's games and also leads the Texas League in hits (16), runs (10) and total bases (32).

To the top: The Frisco RoughRiders won their first five games of the season, and after a 6-3 loss at Arkansas, won three in a row heading into Monday's series at home against Arkansas to open the season with the Texas League's best record. The RoughRiders are first in the Texas League in pitching (1.95 ERA), led by Richelson Pena, a right-hander who has yet to allow an earned run and has held opponents to two hits over 9 2/3 innings in three outings.

Familiar territory: Raul Mondesi ended last season as the first player ever to make his Major League debut in the World Series. This year, he's back in the Texas League and doing just fine for Northwest Arkansas. Mondesi, the Royals' No. 1 prospect, and No. 35 in all of baseball, is hitting .314 with three home runs, two doubles and a triple through nine games with the Naturals. Mondesi is tied for the Texas League lead with six stolen bases.