The Cubs opened the 2024 season with top prospect Matt Shaw in their lineup, hoping he could immediately step up and seize the everyday job at third base. The former first-round pick struggled in 18 games before being optioned to Triple-A, but it seems like he’s set to rejoin the roster after an impressive run in Des Moines. Cubs skipper Craig Counsell told the team’s beat yesterday that another promotion for Shaw was “under consideration” (link via Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic). Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports this morning that Shaw is indeed expected to join the roster today — likely at the expense of veteran infielder Nicky Lopez, whom Chicago will try to trade (presumably after a DFA). Lopez did not travel to Miami with the Cubs for their upcoming series against the Marlins, Heyman adds.
Shaw, 23, hit just .172/.294/.241 in 68 plate appearances during his trial run to open the season. He walked an impressive 10 times in that small sample (14.7%) but also fanned on 18 occasions (26.5%). His batted-ball metrics were at the bottom of the scale; he averaged only 82.7 mph off the bat, barreled just one ball and posted a lowly 22.5% hard-hit rate (all per Statcast).
Sharma reports that the Cubs sent Shaw to Triple-A to scale back the size of a leg kick that had been part of his mechanics at the plate for years — a trait they believed would help his swing play better against big league pitching. Shaw struggled a bit early on, with three hits in 27 plate appearances after being sent down. Sharma notes that he wasn’t working with the new leg kick in games yet until this past week, but Shaw got hot at the plate with his old mechanics as he worked to hone his new ones — and upon incorporating that new, quieter leg kick into Triple-A games this weekend he homered four times in two games.
It’s hard to attribute that solely to the change in his timing mechanism, but Shaw currently boasts five round-trippers in his past six games and is hitting .321/.418/.641 with more walks (13.2%) than strikeouts (12.1%) in his past 91 trips to the plate. He’s piled up a dozen extra-base hits (six homers, five doubles, one triple), gone 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts and seen jumps in his batted-ball data (88.6 mph average exit velocity, 109.9 mph max exit velo, 43.8% hard-hit rate).
By measure of wRC+, the Cubs have had the second-worst production in MLB from their third basemen in 2025, leading only the division-rival Brewers. Chicago third baseman have turned in a feeble .184/.271/.222 batting line — 53% worse than league-average production at the plate. Much of that is due to Shaw’s own struggles early on, but the Cubs have received negligible production overall from the group of Lopez, Jon Berti, Gage Workman, Vidal Brujan and Justin Turner when they’ve manned the hot corner as well.
Lopez, 30, has appeared in 14 games since signing with the Cubs but has just 22 plate appearances. He’s been used more as a defensive specialist and has gone just 1-for-18 with four walks and three strikeouts in 22 plate appearances overall.
I think he’ll be better the second time around. Will be interesting to see where CC bats him in the lineup.
Ninth
He had a 535 OPS last time. He probably won’t be worse……
There are 534 ways he could be worse.
Hopefully ninth for a while. Let him hit to at least .650 OPS (which is league average for a #9 hitter) for a month and get experience before moving him up to 8th. If he still can’t generate a .650 OPS over the next 25 games, then they need to figure out if something more drastic is needed.
At this point, he’s got to be locked at ninth—only a very small sliver of a chance that he bats eighth when Amaya is in the lineup.
There is absolutely nobody he should be hitting above—and it’s been pretty obvious that third baseman of choice has been batting ninth since Shaw went down.
“The Cubs opened the 2024 season with top prospect Matt Shaw in their lineup, hoping he could immediately step up and seize the everyday job at third base”
Small correction. 2025 season, not 2024.
The biggest question with Shaw is his defense. Why are we ignoring that part of his game?
That’s really not the biggest question, however, even with any early struggles he’s a vast improvement over all of Berti, Brujan, Workman, and Turner.
Hoping for better this time around, yes.
And—there’s the hope that if there is progress at the plate, he won’t have to take that to the field with him….not that I really believe in that, but…..
I think he’s going to hit. He’s always hit. But he’s not really a 3b. Of course he’s better than those bums you named but thats a really low bar. Hopefully for the Cubs sake he will be better than Paredes one day. Defense matters. Is his arm stronger than it used to be?
He’s a shortstop, playing 3B will not be difficult as he’s proved so far in AA and AAA. We aren’t talking about moving him to catcher, SS is the most athletic position on the field and requires more arm strength than 3B.
Of course defense matters—however, if there is any team in baseball that can afford ONE below average defender, it’s the Cubs.
Gold glove in left, gold glove in right, gold glove at short, gold glove at second….league leader last year in OAA at first—and oh, the best defender at any position in baseball in center.
Right now, Shaw’s only path to the majors is at third. And he’s played all of 18 games. Let’s not profile him as Christopher Morel on defense just yet.
He’s really not a shortstop. He’s a 2b who can maybe play some 3b.
I understand why the Cubs are playing him at 3b. But that doesn’t make him a legit 3b. My guess is long term Hoerner signs somewhere else and Shaw moves to 2b.
What tells you he’s really not a shortstop—he won the award for the top shortstop in the nation when he was in college. That would indicate to me that’s he’s really not a left fielder.
And to your Hoerner comment—2027 is over a season and a a half away—that very much could be in the plan—but let’s allow a couple of seasons to play out.
Totally agree King, Shaw’s future w the Cubs, should he prove worthy, is at 2B. Where his defense, hitting, and base running all project to be above average.
If he won an award for being the top shortstop it wasnt based on his defense it was because he’s a good hitter.
Allowing things to play out on a win now team might prove to be a mistake.
@kingofcards. – and your ‘not much of a legitimate expert’. Can’t you just stick with your previous identity of ‘blackpink’? You don’t seem any more insightful with your new name.
Sorry King, I misunderstood. You said “long term” that Hoerner signs elsewhere and Shaw takes over—which I agree with.
I also agree with your win now statement, however, i doubt that the Cubs can pry Jose Ramirez, Matt Chapman, Manny Machado, or Austin Riley from their current teams.
Very few teams can claim to be solid at seven or eight positions like the Cubs can right now. They’ve played it out so far and are within one game of the best record in the league.
Maybe they can get Isaac Paredes from the Astros. That would help.
That ship has sailed..twice!
Paredes and Bellinger versus Tucker and Shaw. That is your comparison for 2025.
Gold glove in center. Or he will be at the end of the season.
I had no problem with them dealing Paredes. I mean he was so 1 dimensional as a pull hitter he almost killed Counsell with a line drive into the dugout and Counsell stands as far to the left in the dugout as he can get. And he isn’t exactly a defensive whiz. But Cubs were crying that they needed a middle of the order bat, Had a possibility for that in a position of need and traded him for a 1 year rental. All I know is they had better get Tuckers name on a dotted line someplace. Wesneski going down makes it look a little better, I guess there’s a reason the Cubs didn’t want him starting. Unless they have another 1 year rental in mind again for next year.
He was drafted as a SS. So yes he is a shortstop. Typically the SS has the strongest arm in the infield so playing 3B shouldn’t affect his defense in any way.
Shaw is a better third baseman than second baseman. Shaw is a good north/south defender, not east to west. The only “concern” is his arm at third base but the Cubs actually got great defense from Nick Madrgial (when he was actually able to play) and his arm was a noodle.
Shaw’s future should be at 2B. Problem is the B/U SS already plays there and is a fixture. Nico is the insurance if something happens to Swanson unless you’re a Dixon Machado fan for this year. Nico has more range than Shaw in the field and Shaw has more power. Otherwise they are pretty equal. Shaw can play 3rd and Nico can play SS which makes Nico more valuable right now. They’ll probably have to look at it again for next year. Shaw can probably play SS in an emergency but I don’t think I want to see a steady diet of it.
Except when the ball is hit behind third at the foul line….that requires tremendous arm strength which Shaw does not have. – period- hard stop. He was a SS in college but he’s a 2B in MLB. He’ll need to bounce the ball on many plays to get it over to first. He’s shorter than most 3B and doesn’t react well when the ball is hit hard to either side. He’s a liability on defense so he’ll need to hit a ton to be a star player.
Really? How many 3B can make that play other than Machado and Arenado? That’s not a play that’s made on a consistent basis anyway. Non factor.
Nick Madrigal had 8 drs and 10 OAA as a third baseman and has significantly less arm strength and is shorter – period- hard stop (dated saying btw).
Also, you can watch some highlights of Shaw making plays in foul territory and still nabbing the runner.
Shaw’s “weak” arm, (small sample) is 85 MPH which isn’t weak at all. It’s actually quite good.
AAA pitching is not ML pitching. Lots of deer in the headlights at bats left in 4 1/2 months.
Didn’t they say that about PCA when they sent him down last year and he started hitting at the AA level? I think he struggled a bit more for a minute and then raked.
PCA seems to be thriving as the leadoff man like I said. I still say the Cubs best line up is PCA, Nico, Tucker, Suzuki, Happ, Busch Swanson, C.. Waiting to see it in action.
Didn’t they say that about PCA when they sent him down last year
========================
A fair amount of Cubs fans were saying this earlier this year
There are a number of interesting perspectives here, but one whose validity I respectfully question is the nostalgia for Paredes. What a limited, sluggish ballplayer he is! He can hit a homer into the Crawford boxes once in a while, but otherwise he can’t do much.
I also would demure just a bit on the tendency to lump Brujan in with Lopez, Berti, and Turner. He is better than they are. He has a stronger third baseman’s arm, and he can hit a little (the lake winds have not been kind to him a few times at Wrigley Field this spring). He isn’t “the answer” at third for the Cubs, but his talents are not negligible.
Alan—it’s perfectly fine to lump Brujan in that group. On any given day they are all the 23rd to 25th guy on the roster.
Yes, he may have a stronger arm, but the fact of the matter is that Matt Shaw has started more career games at third base than Vidal Brujan.
Brujan also hits from the left side and can play the outfield but is still a deep bench role player on this one.
As for Peredes, that’s just King doing his daily Cub troll thing—he is worried for Cub fans that the whole season is in peril because Matt Shaw is about the only non Gold Glover on the team.
You might want to look up the definition of “demure” because you’re not using it correctly.
While I can make an argument that Berti and Brujan are better bench players than Mastro and Madrigal and defensively a lot better, Are they more valuable than the players the Cubs have coming? If not, Then they need to be dealt for something they need right now like arms or a C for the minors. They just released Reese McGuire who was actually hitting at Iowa and probably had an opt out. Ballesteros isn’t more than an emergency C if that and Aliendo has been struggling with the bat at AA which is weird. Be interesting to see if they finally promote him to AAA anyway. Right now they have Perez and Caleb Knight who supposedly retired last year. Anyway Nico can’t go anywhere until one of the Cubs whiz kids SS’s actually can make it to the Bigs. Anybody notice but me the Cubs drafted 15 SS’s but if you look at all the minor league teams except S Bend( Hernandez) are playing guys they acquired at SS? What organization does that?
Have to feel bad for Lopez’s Grandfather Larry who is a big Cubs fan who never got to see him play in person at his home ballpark.
I like that Nicky is a local kid, and his defense and base running are great, but an average of 0.40 in the majors is criminal. Hopefully he can figure it out wherever he lands.
Stick him in the lineup and leave him there.
Don’t yo yo him. He’ll figure it out offensively. Cubs have plenty of guys that can provide offensive cover. Hopefully he provides solid defense. Not expecting Brooks Robinson out there.