Matt Shaw Has To Learn From His First Taste of the Big Leagues

When the Chicago Cubs optioned Matt Shaw to Triple-A Iowa last Tuesday, it was a sign that they just didn’t feel he looked like his best self offensively.

Going back down, then, is a chance for the 23-year-old to take a breath, reflect on what he learned in his first taste of the big leagues and work on the right adjustments.

“The best learning moments come when you have adversity, when you have struggles,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “This is an opportunity for [Shaw]. It’s hard to look at it like that when you’re getting told you’re being demoted, but it’s an opportunity.

“He’s got some exposure to a different level of baseball, and it’s pretty good, right? And he struggled with it, [but] you don’t just abandon ship. From Matt’s perspective, you take the information in and you learn from it, and that’s what we’re going to try to do — and he’ll be successful at it.”

Shaw is only 68 plate appearances into his MLB career, but the struggles were pretty apparent. Some of plate discipline stats weren’t bad. He had a 14.7 percent walk rate (87th percentile entering Monday) and a 27.7 percent chase rate (48th percentile).

But when you take a look at his Baseball Savant page, there’s blue everywhere. That means he trended toward the bottom of the league in categories like average exit velocity (82.7 mph, 1st percentile), hard-hit rate (22.5 percent, 3rd percentile), barrel rate (2.5 percent, 14th percentile), whiff rate (30.8 percent, 22nd percentile) and more.

He ultimately slashed .172/.294/.241/64 wRC+. He had just two extra-base hits (one home run) and struck out at a 26.5 percent clip (27th percentile).

Shaw, the 13th-overall pick in 2023, rocketed up the minor league ladder. Along the way, he made adjustments, hit well at every level and showed power-speed potential. The Cubs still believe in his ability to do that in the big leagues, but for now, his performance warranted some time back down.

“What I do know is that Matt just does not have a lot of professional at-bats,” Counsell said. “He does not have a lot of professional experience. There are some guys that can still excel with that. Most guys, they get knocked back at some point, and that’s OK.”

It’s far from unheard of for a top prospect — Shaw ranks No. 12 on Just Baseball’s Top 100 — to not have things immediately click at the major league level. It’s considered the biggest jump in baseball for a reason.

Some of the best Cubs prospects in the past decade-plus have been sent down after cracking the roster. Look no further than Ian Happ, the one-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner.

Happ debuted on May 13, 2017, and lasted in the majors through 2018. Then he started 2019 with Iowa and wasn’t recalled until late July that year. So, Shaw is certainly not alone in having to spend some time back in the minors after getting that call up.

There have been some concerns over Shaw’s mechanics and whether his unique batting stance can work against big league pitching. Thus far, he hasn’t proven that it can.

But part of becoming a major league hitter is making the necessary adjustments. Counsell is confident Shaw will do that.

“Firm belief: Players will clean up mechanics as they go in this game. All of them will,” Counsell said. “The game just forces you to get cleaner with your mechanics, and so that’ll happen with Matt. I think just understanding, OK, this is my swing, and then this is what the league tries to do, and then this is what I’m going to have to adjust to. I think he got a really good lesson in that.

“He’ll learn from that, and he’ll adjust to that. That’s one thing he does really well is that he takes it in, and he’ll adjust. The speed at which it happens, we didn’t see it in the 70 plate appearances, but it’ll happen.”

The defensive side was a question coming into the season, too, since third base is still a fairly new position for him. Counsell saw things Shaw needs to improve on at the hot corner — he did make three errors in 141 innings — but he does think Shaw has made progress.

For now, the Cubs will operate without Shaw in the lineup and have others fill the spot. A successful pursuit of Alex Bregman in the offseason likely means they aren’t in that position — he would’ve been their starting third baseman — but it’s how the situation has unfolded.

Counsell said there will be different third basemen “frequently,” and so far, that’s been accurate. Since optioning Shaw, Jon Berti has started three game at third. Gage Workman and Vidal Bruján also made one start there apiece.

While Counsell agreed someone could outright win the job, he did say he thinks using platoons at the position is the “most likely thing that’ll happen.”

Shaw didn’t record a hit but drew two walks in his first nine plate appearances back with Iowa over the weekend. Considering he posted a .929 OPS in 35 Triple-A games last year, though, expect him to find his swing quickly.

And as long as he makes the progress the Cubs want to see, Shaw will find himself back in Chicago.

“This doesn’t have to be a long stint in Triple-A. I think the best way to learn is in the big leagues,” Counsell said. “It is, and now, he’s going to take that feedback and definitely go apply it against a lesser league, absolutely. But when you get back here, it’s the same league, and that’s part of performing.”