Elvis Andrus is throughly enjoying his time so far with the A’s and appreciates his budding relationship with Matt Chapman. NBC Sports Bay Area’s Jessica Kleinschmidt discusses the addition of Andrus.
Elvis Andrus already received the highest compliment you get can on a new team: He looks great in an A’s uniform. At least, according to his friends and family.
While he looks the part, the two-time All-Star shortstop will have to learn to work alongside Matt Chapman on the left side of the infield. Andrus is thrilled that he no longer has to hit the ball anywhere near the A's third baseman.
“That’s one of the important things for me,” Andrus said. “I used to hate [Chapman] so much because nothing goes through him, but now playing alongside I just need to know how much actual ground he covers so I can kind of figure it out how he’s going to be during the season.”
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SIGN UP HERE Andrus won’t have to worry about how much ground Chapman will cover from the batter's box anymore. Pitchers love knowing they have a two-time Platinum Glove Award-winning guy at the hot corner, especially with all the foul territory the Oakland Coliseum possesses.
“Just get that relationship with him in the field,” Andrus said.
Andrus added he believes Chapman will return to playing third base in about a week. He had been slowly returning to play at the designated hitter position until he eased back in coming off season-ending hip surgery in 2020.
“When he gets back in the field, I would like to play in pretty much all the games that he plays,” Andrus said.
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Andrus lost about 10 pounds this offseason and said he feels like his body is 20-years-old again, with a 30-year-old mentality.
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Andrus also was excited to have fans back in the stands and play in front of them for the first time in a long time.
“It was unbelievable,” he said. “I said last year, playing baseball with no fans is not baseball, it’s so boring -- so it was pretty cool. It made me feel that I was playing professional baseball again.”
