MESA, Ariz. — On draft night, after being scrutinized by the baseball industry for years, Matt Shaw gave his own scouting report on the Chicago Cubs, the organization that had just selected him with the No. 13 pick out of the University of Maryland. This was July 9, 2023, a moment during a video conference with Chicago reporters that turned out to be prescient.
“I wanted to be on a team that I thought would move me up and give me the opportunity to kind of fail early,” Shaw said then, “and learn how to get my footing through playing against really good competition. I think the Cubs will do a good job with that.”
Indeed, Shaw, 23, is poised to make his major-league debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers in next week’s Tokyo Series at the Tokyo Dome, sharing a stage with future Hall of Famers, Japanese superstars and the rest of the defending World Series champs.
That accelerated timeline would be less than 21 months after the Cubs drafted Shaw, whose resume includes 35 Triple-A games, 600 minor-league at-bats and a consensus spot on the major rankings of the sport’s best prospects, including at No. 14 in Keith Law’s ranking for The Athletic.
“Honestly, now that I’m with the organization,” Shaw said when reminded of the quote that essentially called his shot, “I would say that they don’t necessarily move guys as quickly as some other organizations that I’ve seen. I’d say they’re probably more middle of the pack. But I’ve put in a lot of time and effort to be in this situation. I’m very thankful for their belief in me.”
Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer acknowledged Shaw’s arrival as “quicker than we probably anticipated,” further validation of the organization’s process of identifying college hitters in the first round.
Though some of the methods and decision-makers have changed over the years, the Cubs selected Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber, Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner between the 2013 and 2018 drafts. Even last year’s first-round pick, Cam Smith, a high performer at Florida State, has already generated major-league value as a key piece in the Kyle Tucker trade with the Houston Astros.
In comparison to some of those other names, Shaw was lightly recruited out of Worcester Academy in Massachusetts, narrowing his final decision to either Maryland or Northeastern. Now listed at 5-foot-9, 185 pounds, he kept developing in college, playing 167 games for the Terrapins and becoming the Cape Cod League MVP. Coaches and players describe him as mature, analytical and driven.
“You’re going to need every bit of that makeup and that work ethic with the way today’s game is,” Hoyer said. “He feels like, ‘OK, I’ll savor this moment, and then I’ll move on to the next thing.’ That’s how he’s wired. He’s not the biggest guy. I think he’s been proving people wrong a little bit his whole life.”
Defense is a question mark, considering Shaw’s relative lack of experience at third base. But the path to Wrigley Field remained open for Shaw after the Cubs failed to sign All-Star third baseman Alex Bregman. The Cubs can mix and match with other options at that position — Gage Workman, Justin Turner, Jon Berti and Vidal Bruján — but Shaw is the player the Cubs hope will seize the job.
Patience is a big part of Craig Counsell’s personality. The Cubs manager is willing to live with a young player’s inevitable offensive struggles so long as he can be counted on to play strong defense. Brice Turang, who blossomed into a Platinum Glove winner, was a prime example from Counsell’s time running the Milwaukee Brewers. That philosophy carried over to how Counsell managed Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, a dazzling defender who gradually made offensive improvements as a rookie.
“The player has to be judged on everything,” Counsell said. “For Matt, we need him to do both. He’s not going to play defense to the level of a Pete Crow-Armstrong. But he’s going to keep getting better on defense. That’s why the kid’s here already. It’s because he keeps getting better. You put something in front of him, he conquers the challenge. You put something else in front of him, he conquers the challenge. That’s how you get here so fast.”
How long will Shaw stay? And how patient will the Cubs be in a playoffs-or-bust year?
“That’s kind of dependent on how I play,” Shaw said. “If I play well and I’m well-prepared and handle everything fine, then they have no problems. That’s kind of more up to me than anybody else. And I hope that I give them the right opportunity to be patient and just let me go and play.”
(Photo: Allan Henry / Imagn Images)
Patrick Mooney is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball. He spent eight seasons covering the Cubs across multiple platforms for NBC Sports Chicago/Comcast SportsNet, beginning in 2010. He has been a frequent contributor to MLB Network, Baseball America, MLB.com and the Chicago Sun-Times News Group. Follow Patrick on Twitter @PJ_Mooney
