The Chicago Cubs had no choice but to make the tough call with their top prospect, Matt Shaw.
They had to send the 23-year-old down to the minors.
The team’s 2023 no. 1 draft pick, who they hoped would be their every day third baseman this season, was struggling at the major league level. Not only was he batting a meager .172 with 18 strikeouts in 58 plate appearances, but he was also struggling defensively, with 3 errors in just 18 games.
By all accounts, Shaw was working hard to make adjustments, but with the Cubs firing on all cylinders and pushing towards a playoff run, this just wasn’t the time or the place for developmental work. So, the hard decision was made, just 20 games into the season, to send Shaw back down to Triple-A.
Matt Shaw’s Return To Iowa
“I understand you have to perform to play in the big leagues and if they feel like getting some consistent at-bats with the shortened spring is going to be something that helps our team in the coming months and if I’m a player who’s in a rhythm for our squad, then I think that’s a good thing, Shaw told the Des Moines Register shortly after rejoining the Iowa Cubs. “I think it’s just the nature of baseball. Guys move up, move down. It’s definitely a learning process.”
Things didn’t go smoothly, though, upon first arrival. He went 1-for-17 in his first five games back in the minors.
“When he came back, the confidence was down a little bit,” Iowa’s co-hitting coach Rick Strickland told the Des Moines Register. “Of course it should be. He’s struggling, right?”
Initial Struggles
But Shaw is a blue-chip prospect for a reason and soon went about the work needed to prove himself major league-ready once again.
“We definitely looked in and took some things that maybe he was doing differently in his move — maybe causing himself to be a little bit off-balance in his swing, but just getting him back to being grounded and being a really good athlete that he actually is,” Strickland said.
“Even when he was not getting the results, he was feeling much better.”
Working His Way Back To The Chicago Cubs
Shaw has always been regarded as a hard-working, level-headed player, mature for his age. Those who know him didn’t doubt his mindset in taking the demotion as an opportunity rather than a punishment.
“I didn’t think coming back here would be much of a problem,” Strickland said. “He is a hitter…It’s just something that he naturally does. So getting him back here a little bit allowed him enough time to catch his break and get it back together. I would say nothing special as far as mechanical tricks or things we did. It’s really probably just getting that mental reset more than anything.
“I think mentally, he’s in a good space. Physically, he’s now getting in a better space.”
After 11 games in Iowa, Shaw is batting .333 and once again showcasing his extreme confidence at the plate. And with his bread-and-butter offense in stride, the pressure should be off and his defense, which he’s also had to work at, should improve as well.
All in all, the feeling is that Shaw is just too good of a ballplayer to not eventually have success at the major league level.
Less than three weeks since his return to Triple-A, his hitting coach, for example, believes that he’s ready for a return to the big leagues.
“He’s ready,” Strickland said. “He’s ready to go back.”
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