The Chicago Cubs have assembled one of the best offenses in the Majors this season. With the ascension of players like Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki, and, of course, Kyle Tucker, the Cubs have ridden their hot offense to an excellent start.
But despite their success, the Cubs have had one major area of weakness: Third Base.
After demoting top prospect Matt Shaw earlier this season, the Hot Corner has stuck out like a sore thumb in Chicago.
While Chicago has struggled to salvage that position, Shaw has been making his case to be recalled after a dominant stretch in the minors.
And according to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, the Cubs took notice.
“Cubs top prospect Matt Shaw is indeed coming up to the Cubs, as I just mentioned on @mullyhaugh. Shaw killed it in Iowa and rounds out a terrific lineup. Cubs will try to trade defensive specialist Nicky Lopez, who didn’t travel with the team to Miami.”
Shaw raked in Triple-A.
In 25 games in Triple-A, the 23-year-old slashed .286/.309/.560 for a .969 OPS. Perhaps most impressive, he maintained a 10% K rate while bringing his walk rate up to 14.5%. His power outage certainly didn’t hurt either, with five of his six homers coming this past week.
Additionally, in his last 10 games, Shaw collected 15 hits, 10 walks, and five homers. His best moment occurred on May 15th when he smashed two homers, including one that won the game for Iowa.
The reality for Shaw was that he needed a hot streak like this to be recalled to the big league roster. After struggling mightily in 58 Major League at-bats, his confidence should now be sky-high coming back to Chicago. Aside from his production, Shaw was sent down to Iowa to work on some mechanical adjustments.
Many will still be concerned with his leg kick, which I admit isn’t ideal. But if he can get his front foot down in time, I dont foresee it being too big of an issue going forward.
Despite horrific play from the hot corner, the Cubs have been able to thrive without their top prospect in the majors. After completing a sweep of their cross-town rival White Sox, the Cubs advanced to 28-19. They own a two-game lead in the division against the red-hot St. Louis Cardinals.
So what now?
The expectation for Shaw should not be to hit like he did in Triple-A. As great as that would be, it’s just not realistic. I do believe that Chicago is now committed to giving Shaw an extended runway to claim third base as his own.
He may get off to a rocky start, but he will have more than enough time to right the ship. Chicago has thrived with virtually zero production from that spot, so even an average player would be a huge boost to that lineup.
If Shaw can provide even a .700 OPS (which is below league average), that would be a massive boost from the .480 OPS that Cubs third basemen have provided thus far. He has proven at every level that he is a good hitter who can make the necessary adjustments. Being sent down after an initial cup of coffee in the big leagues is hardly unique to Shaw. It happens to some of the best in the business.
Shaw was in the big leagues during the Cubs’ initial gauntlet of a schedule. Now he gets a much softer landing as the Cubs play their next five series against teams at .500 or worse.
Cubs Call Up Top Prospect in Bid to Fix Major Weakness