The Chicago Cubs wouldn’t admit it at the time, but they had made their mind up about third base very early into the offseason.
Top prospect Matt Shaw was going to be their man.
The front office had busied itself with some acquisitions who were third base-capable, like Jon Berti, Vidal Brujan, and Rule 5 draft pick Gage Workman. They also acquired 40-year-old free agent Justin Turner after taking a marginally serious token shot at signing free agent Alex Bregman.
But none of the above were picked up to be THE man at the hot corner. The Cubs really, really wanted the 23-year-old Shaw, their 2023 no. 1 draft pick, to be that guy.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t.
Matt Shaw’s Struggles
Shaw, regarded as a bat-first prospect, struggled at the plate, hitting a sickly .172 with 18 strikeouts in 68 plate appearances.
With the team looking “for real” as playoff contenders, patience was thin with the young star and he was sent down to Triple-A Iowa for some fine tuning in a more relaxed non-pressure atmosphere.
The hope, though, is that Shaw will find his way back up to the majors before too long and elevate a third base position in the absolute doldrums with a collective .195 batting average and a .516 OPS.
After some early struggles back in the minors, Shaw has begun to right himself and regain the batting mojo that won him top prospect status in the first place. In his last 11 games, he’s hitting .318 with a .900 OPS.
Chicago Cubs’ Exec Speaks Out
In a recent interview with Marquee Sports Network, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer talked about what the team is looking for when it comes to Shaw’s performance in Iowa.
“Consistency of his at bats, and it’s getting a chance to get down there and gain some confidence,” Hoyer said. “We’re watching all his at-bats and talking about it, and we’ll continue to do that.
“My hope is that he makes it clear when he’s ready to come up, but we’ll keep on looking and analyzing, and I have no question that he’s gonna help this team again this year, for sure.”
Hoyer would also assert that there wasn’t any set number of at bats he’d like to see from Shaw before making the decision to bring him back up. In the case of the Cubs’ prospect, quality trumps quantity.
“Some of that comes down to need, but there’s not a lot of science behind that,” Hoyer said. “You can try to but ultimately, it comes down to, how is he putting up his numbers? What pitches is he swinging at? Who’s he doing his damage against? Those kind of things are probably gonna be a big part of it.”
Last week, Iowa co-hitting coach Rick Strickland gave the Des Moines Register a glowing report about Shaw and his progress.
Glowing Reports From Iowa
“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.”
Everyone in the organization seems to feel that Shaw has the mental makeup, as well as the raw ability, to be a productive player at the major league level. The question is when.
Strickland feels that the time for a Shaw comeback is now.
“He’s ready,” Strickland said. “He’s ready to go back.”
Time will tell whether the Cubs bring their young prospect back up for another try or if they work to add a more proven big league third baseman at the trade deadline.
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