The Chicago Cubs have been linked to being a possible landing spot for future Hall of Famer Alex Bregman, but could the Cubs have the next Alex Bregman on their hands already?
With the Chicago Cubs having a hole over at third base, naturally there would be speculation as to the Cubs being in on big named free agents like Alex Bregman or involved with trades on the trade market for a third basemen like Nolan Arenado or an Alec Bohm. So far, neither of these rumors have become reality. To fill the need at third base President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer said in no simple terms that the job was top prospect Matt Shaw’s job to lose. In a recent interview with MLB Network Radio on Siris XM Matt Shaw said he was excited about the opportunity of competing for the starting job in Spring Training.
Matt Shaw
The 23-year-old Matt Shaw was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the first-round, thirteenth overall of the 2023 MLB June Amateur Draft. Splitting his time between both Double and Triple-A in 2024, Shaw in 121 games had 126 hits, 19 doubles, 4 triples, 21 HRs, 71 RBIs, 31 stolen bases (11 caught stealing), slashing .284/.379/.488/.867. Shaw currently ranks as the Cubs top ranked prospect in the organization and is on the MLB top 100 prospects rankings where he stands as the twenty-second ranked prospect in all of baseball.
Matt Shaw is very similar to the future Hall of Famer Alex Bregman
The similarities I can draw between Matt Shaw and Alex Bregman are scary similar. Both are around the same height with Bregman standing six-foot flat and Shaw just a few ticks below him at five-foot-nine. They weigh just withing five pounds of each other with Bregman being at 190lbs and Shaw at 185lbs.
Both were also highly talented shortstops at their respective universities and were drafted out of college with an already established Major League shortstop blocking their path. For Bregman it was Carlos Correa and for Shaw it’s Dansby Swanson. Alex Bregman to his credit has 129 career games played at shortstop at the Major League level, if all things pan out, I believe Shaw is on that same trajectory.
Opening Day third basemen?
Matt Shaw is in line to be the Cubs everyday third basemen come Opening Day with President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer making it clear that he has the chance to win the job in Spring Training where he will compete with fellow infielders Gage Workman and Vidal Bruján who will also be competing for the job. Hoyer in his comments Hoyer said of Busch which was provided by 670 The Score said:
“He can play second well, he can play third well,” Hoyer said of Shaw’s comfort defensively. “Right now, obviously, we’re going to give him a long look at third after we traded (Isaac) Paredes. Making room for young players is really important. He has to earn that job. I’m not going to gift him that job on a conference call in the middle of December, but certainly with what he’s done in the minor leagues since we’ve had him, he’s played really well.
“His arrow is really pointing up. I do think it’s important – just like we did last year with (Pete Crow-Armstrong) – you’ve got to give young players some runway and some ability to play.”
With Matt Shaw being as excited and eager as he is to take this opportunity and run with it and the front office giving him so much runway to seize the oppurtunity, hopefully the stars are aligning for Shaw to having a fantastic rookie season in which maybe he wins the National League Rookie of the Year award which he’s capable of accomplishing. Shaw could even get the taste of being a part of a winning team and hopefully playing meaningful baseball in October.
Will Matt Shaw pan out?
All signs appear that Shaw will pan out and turn into a star one of the future stars in Major League Baseball. If he can get anywhere close to the player Alex Bregman is and has been in his career, which I believe he can be, then that would be outstanding player for the Cubs to have for a long time. Like other players on the Chicago Cubs roster Shaw needs to have a productive season if the Cubs want to make the playoffs this year.
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