The Chicago Cubs had high hopes for their top prospect Matt Shaw.
Although the organization wouldn’t come right out and say it, but the 23-year-old 2023 no. 1 draft pick was their guy to take the team’s third base gig, from the very end of the 2024 season. They leaned towards Shaw almost to the exclusion of every other possibility.
But when the highly-regarded rookie didn’t immediately pan out, posting a sickly .172 batting average with 18 strikeouts in 68 plate appearances before being sent down to Triple-A in mid-April, they scrambled for a viable plan B.
The Chicago Cubs’ Third Base Hole
As things would have it, though, there was no viable plan B. None of the other third baseman used by the Cubs– Jon Berti, Vidal Brujan, Justin Turner, Gage Workman, Nicky Lopez– could win the job. As a matter of fact, with Shaw’s numbers included, the third base position was hitting a collective .195 with a .516 OPS. Even worse, the platooned crew was making the kinds of field mistakes and miscalculations that go hand in hand with semi/part-time/occasional defensive play.
Meanwhile, after a slow start back with the Iowa Cubs, Shaw seemed to put everything together and began reasserting the offensive dominance that saw him work his way through every step of the organization in less than three full years of pro ball.
The Cubs, with nowhere else to turn and nothing really left to lose, brought Shaw back, just a little over a month after sending him down.
The Matt Shaw Comeback
Since his major league return, Shaw’s been beyond rock solid. As of this writing, he’s hitting .346 in 7 games with 5 doubles and an .OPS of .952. Bat restored, his defense has also benefited as he’s already made some outstanding plays and just seems generally more confident in his skin.
Shaw, himself, recently talked about his successful comeback after the humbling demotion.
“There’s not time for young guys to struggle when we want to win, so it was exactly what I needed,” Shaw recently told Matt Snyder of CBS Sports. “I think it was something that I really needed. I felt like I needed it, even at the time. As unfortunate as it was, it felt like something that I needed. It was just part of the journey and, yeah, I’ve stayed confident.
“I think the stint back in Triple-A gave me a little perspective about the big leagues and gave me a breath of fresh air to kind of take a step back. It also gave me some time to work on things, all of which I needed.”
“We’ve asked him to make some changes and I think he’s done really well with them,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell also told CBS Sports. “I think the easiest thing to see is that he’s a little more upright, not as much on his legs as he was in April in the big leagues. The leg kick is smaller just to get him to be on time as much as he possibly can. Those are the two differences that I think you can see and those kind of lead to smaller mechanical things that I think will allow him to be more consistent.”
A Plus-Plus Turn Of Events
Shaw needed the step backwards, but the Cubs definitely needed his recent step forward.
Having even a partially effective, productive Shaw in the lineup stabilizes the one weak spot in an otherwise stellar offense. It also crosses off one need on the team’s trade deadline shopping list, allowing them to fully focus on pitching.
This is all plus-plus stuff for a Cubs team already bursting with plus-plus energy.
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