Travis Chapman

Travis Adrian Chapman

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 185 lb.
• School Mississippi State University
• High School Bishop Kenny High School
• Debut September 9, 2003
• Final Game September 9, 2003
• Born June 5, 1978 in Jacksonville, FL USA

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Biographical Information

In his only career at-bat, Travis Chapman pinch hit for Tomas Perez in the 7th inning of a September 9, 2003 blowout win by the Philadelphia Phillies against the Atlanta Braves. He flew out to right field in his only plate appearance of the game, sticking around to play third base for three innings in the game, whose final score was 18-5.

Chapman had some decent seasons in the minors after being a 17th round choice out of Mississippi State in the 2000 amateur draft. He hit .307 in 96 games with the Class A Clearwater Phillies in 2001 and .301 in 136 games with the Reading Phillies in 2002. He merely had the bad luck and misfortune to be a third baseman in the Phillies' organization when Scott Rolen was entrenched at the position. After Rolen was traded away late in 2002, the Phillies signed David Bell to a big contract, blocking the position for a few more years.

Chapman's big break should have come in 2003; in the previous December's 2002 Rule V draft, he had been picked up by the Cleveland Indians, who immediately sold him to the Detroit Tigers. There was an opening at third base for Detroit, given that both Craig Paquette and Chris Truby had hit below .200 the previous year. Chapman did not impress enough during spring training in 2003 and was returned to the Phillies, while top draft pick Eric Munson got the starting job for the Tigers. Back in the Phils organization, Chapman hit .272 with 36 homers and 12 doubles for the AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, which earned him a call-up in September, but he only played the one game.

He signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals in 2004, but missed almost the entire season to injuries, playing only 44 games, none at a level higher than Class A, hitting .262. He could not play adequate enough defense and was now confined to DH'ing. In 2005, he was in the Cincinnati Reds' organization, but it was the same story: 13 games with the Sarasota Reds, a decent batting average at .271, but an inability to play defense. In 2006, he played in the Pittsburgh Pirates' system and made it back to AA with the Altoona Curve for 11 games, where he hit .275, but that was it. He retired after the season.

Now a civilian, Chapman became a high school teacher and served as the head coach for the Nease High School Panthers from 2008-2011. During the summers of 2010-2012 he also worked as an assistant coach and evaluator for USA Baseball. Chapman moved to the professional coaching ranks in 2013 as a defensive coach for the GCL Yankees 2 before managing the GCL Yankees 1 squad in 2014. He returned to the role of defensive coach in 2015-2016 with the Charleston RiverDogs. There is some discrepancy between sources for 2017 as both Chapman and Sonder Encarnacion are named as managers for the DSL Yankees. Perhaps Encarnacion began the season as manager, but Chapman almost certainly finished the season as manager. Chapman was the defensive coach for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders in 2018 and Charleston again in 2019. He was slated to manage the GCL Yankees East team in 2020 before the minor league season was cancelled due to COVID-19. The Yankees also designated Chapman as the minor league assistant infield coordinator that year, a role he continued into 2021.

In 2022, he was named first base coach and infield coach for the parent New York Yankees. Chapman continued as the first base coach through the 2024 season.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
2014	GCL Yankees 1	Gulf Coast League	38-22	1st	New York Yankees	Lost in 2nd round
2017	DSL Yankees	Dominican Summer League	29-42		New York Yankees		Co-manager with Sonder Encarnacion
2020	GCL Yankees East	Gulf Coast League	Season cancelled