About 30 minutes before batting practice, Matt Chapman sauntered to his locker with a fresh look: A shaved head.
Slumps are inevitable, and Chapman’s currently stumbling through a grueling bout with a 1-for-20 August with seven strikeouts — his lone hit a home run off Milwaukee’s Josh Hader. His drop down slump’s cliff feels especially stark given the .333 average, .910 OPS he’d put together one July stretch.
“He’s going through a slump. Through the course of a season, he’s not the only guy going through that,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He feels it, he wants to be that guy for the team every day, but there are times when other people have to pick up the slack.