Giants’ Chapman, A’s Kotsay talk effects of social media hate. ‘No-win situation’
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- Kotsay spoke about social media hate and called it a no-win situation.
- Matt Chapman said he quit social media after receiving regular online threats and abuse.
- Mookie Betts deleted social media from his phone amid online hate in 2026.
San Francisco Giants star Matt Chapman welcomed Athletics Manager Mark Kotsay’s strongly worded, four-minute Friday remarks about the hate MLB players receive on social media, saying he has stopped using social media amid an early season slump.
“Yeah, it’s bad,” Chapman told the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday. “I got off social media, stopped looking at it — but it still seems like only the negative stuff finds you.”
Chapman, who said he is regularly threatened online, is the latest to speak out on the topic, after slumping future Hall of Famer and Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts, long a league fan favorite, told the Athletic that he deleted social media from his phone due to the hate he was receiving. Kotsay’s remarks seemed to be inspired by Betts’ story, as he mentioned him during his talk Friday.
“Everyone seems to have the right to be able to send negativity and hate towards those players that, you know, aren’t happy about how they’re performing,” Kotsay said in unusually intense pregame remarks before Friday’s loss to the New York Yankees. “There’s no way to escape it unless you delete it. And then when you delete it, you get the hate for not being open to hearing it. So, there’s really a no-win situation in this.”
‘It’s just not cool’
Chapman, 33, is noted as one of the best defensive third baseman of all time, winning five Gold Gloves across his time with the A’s, Giants and Toronto Blue Jays, and making one All-Star appearance. While hitting has never been his strong suit, Chapman is off to one of the worst offensive starts of his career this season, slashing .232/.310/.323 with just one home run in 58 games.
Those numbers fall well short of his nearly .800 career-average OPS and typical home run power. Chapman has hit at least 20 home runs in all but one of the last seven full seasons — the 2020 season was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Echoing Kotsay’s sentiment, Chapman told the San Francisco Chronicle that it was difficult to deal with the online hate, especially to the degree it has gotten recently, because he has been trying hard to improve his production and doesn’t want to let fans down.
“You should see my DMs. It’s people saying ‘I hope your family dies,’” Chapman told the Chronicle. “People threaten us all the time, I just block it and whatever, I don’t make a big deal about it, but it’s just not cool. I would never do that to anybody.”
With the Giants well below .500 at 23-36 and in a close battle for last place in the National League West, the team has faced a lot of criticism at all levels, though Chapman’s extended slump has made it worse for him, in particular, especially due to his contract that will pay him $25 million a season through 2030.
While he told the Chronicle that the comments don’t ruin his day, he said they can hurt, especially when fans suggest the Giants get rid of him when he said he is committed to the team and city of San Francisco.
“All I want to do is win,” Chapman said.
Fans are quick to turn their backs
One similarity between Chapman and Betts is that, while they are both struggling this season, the pair have been among the best players in the league and fan favorites for years.
Chapman alone contributed 11.1 wins above replacement to the Giants over his first two seasons per Baseball Reference with the team, and one of those years he missed about 30 games due to injury. Despite his offensive struggles this season, Chapman already has 1.6 bWAR, though the site’s metric more heavily weights defense than other popular sites, like FanGraphs.
“Over the last two seasons, I feel like I’ve been one of the best third baseman in the game,” Chapman said. “It doesn’t feel good when you feel like people are so quick to turn (their) back on you.”
Betts, 33, an eight-time All-Star, six-time Gold Glove winner and former American League MVP, has struggled even more than Chapman this season. In 25 games, he is hitting below .200 with a .667 OPS, though one could argue his stellar career could warrant more leniency from fans.
Betts’ career .289/.367/.511 slashline, about 1,800 hits and almost 300 home runs put him among the top MLB players ever. Not to mention that in his seven seasons with the Dodgers, Betts has been a key part of the team’s three World Series victories in the 2020s, including their back-to-back championships in 2024 and 2025 and the 2020 win during his first year in L.A.
“There’s so much hate out there,” Betts told the Athletic. “It’s kind of unbelievable.”
As a manager, how does Kotsay handle it?
While Kotsay himself has gotten plenty of online flack this season for various managerial decisions, including the lack of a single closer, overall bullpen management and tough circumstances like a 12-run third inning surrendered to the Yankees on Sunday, he focused his Friday talk on protecting his players.
Kotsay said reinforcing that things like walks, situational hitting and solid contact can help struggling hitters get back on the right track, even if it doesn’t show up on the stat sheet.
“There’s a level of confidence that is hard to maintain,” Kotsay said. “It’s my job and the teammates’ job to help them through those times.”
Days later, Chapman praised Kotsay’s talk in his interview with the Chronicle.
Many high-profile A’s sluggers got off to rough starts to the 2026 season, perhaps none more than outfielder Lawrence Butler, who has lost his regular spot in the lineup after hitting to an abysmal .504 OPS in 146 at-bats, a bit over a year after he signed a seven-year, $65.5 million contract.
In the last two seasons, Butler proved to be a consistent 20-20 threat, achieving the feat in 2025 and almost in 2024, while holding a combined .751 OPS.
While many fans have taken to social media with negative opinions about Butler and to call for him to get sent down to the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators, Kotsay has continued to look at positives in his performances.
“You look at some at-bats tonight, we hit the ball hard,” Kotsay said after Friday’s game, in which Butler lined out in a pinch-hitting appearance. “The Butler at-bat I thought was a great at-bat by Lawrence.”
Kotsay, looking back on his 17-year MLB career that included four seasons with the then-Oakland A’s, said the challenges today’s players have to face are different from the ones he did, when he said he would get to comment on his failure in things like newspaper articles and TV broadcasts.
With pretty much anyone being able to gain a following to express their opinions on platforms like X and YouTube, extreme takes are more easily amplified. Those opinions also reach the players via their own social media feeds.
“It’s pretty easy to (criticize decisions) secondhand Monday morning,” Kotsay said. “But that’s the reality. It’s the job we choose to take.”
