CHICAGO — When the Cubs sent Matt Shaw down to Triple A in the middle of April, the hope was that it wouldn’t be a long stint with Iowa. The Cubs knew it would be hard to address their hole at third base in any other way than internally. Shaw regaining his confidence while making tweaks to his approach and mechanics was, in their belief, their best bet to finding an answer.
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It appears that after making adjustments and once again striking the ball with authority, a return to the big leagues is imminent for Shaw. The 23-year-old infielder was not in the Iowa lineup Sunday, and a call-up during the Cubs’ upcoming road trip appears near.
“It’s under consideration, for sure,” manager Craig Counsell said after Sunday’s 6-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox. “We’ll get together after the game and discuss.”
In a season in which the Cubs’ youth movement is taking center stage, Shaw making an impact would be fitting. In completing the sweep of the White Sox, Pete Crow-Armstrong continued his emergence into the MVP conversation as he delivered two hits — a triple and double — scored two runs and seemed to be in the middle of much of the offense. The weekend also featured the first big-league hit for 21-year-old Moisés Ballesteros and the first home start and second career win for Cade Horton.
Shaw did not look like himself during his brief 18-game stint with the big-league club. He posted a 62 wRC+ and his strikeout rate was 26.5 percent, this after never striking out above 20 percent in the minors. According to Statcast, last season at Triple A, Shaw had an average exit velocity of 89.3 mph and a hard-hit rate of 37.6 percent. During his time with Chicago, those numbers dropped to 82.7 mph and 22.5 percent. In 24 games with Iowa since his demotion, Shaw has a 151 wRC+, six home runs, a .969 OPS and is once again consistently producing hard contact.
The Cubs sent Shaw to the minors with the intent that he needed to regain his confidence, but it was also emphasized that he had to make changes to get back to the highest level. Sometimes, unconventional mechanics can work. But the Cubs believed that Shaw’s leg kick was causing him issues against the elite stuff he was facing in the bigs.
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According to a team source, it was a little bit of a process to get Shaw fully bought into the change. His leg kick has long been a part of his mechanics. But the Cubs weren’t asking him to eliminate the movement. Rather, they believed that a less pronounced leg kick would allow him to be on time more consistently and get back to catching the ball out front and driving it in the air.
The quickest way to get back to the big leagues for Shaw was to make the change and have success doing it. The Cubs had seen it not work for him at the highest level and wanted to see the physical adjustment made before calling him back up. First, Shaw had to get comfortable with the change. And that appears to have happened over the weekend.
The above shows Shaw on Thursday and Shaw on Friday. The difference in the leg kick is significant, and it’s what the Cubs wanted to see. There were encouraging results both games — he homered twice Thursday and Friday — but it was more so that Shaw was comfortable enough to bring this adjustment into a game.
Seeing him both make the change and perform has the Cubs trusting that the time is right to bring Shaw back to the club. Entering play Sunday, the Cubs were getting 28 wRC+ and minus-0.6 WAR from the third-base spot since Shaw went to the minors.
That type of production is what the Cubs were getting from catcher and center field last summer before things turned with both positions in the second half. But having such weak output from one position, let alone two, can be deeply detrimental to an offense. The Cubs have yet to hit a deep skid, but unless they were getting elite defense from third — which has not been the case — there would be little reason not to call up Shaw unless they felt they were deeply hurting his development.
“We’re trying to win games, and we’re trying to put the player in a good position to succeed,” Counsell said. “I don’t think there’s any certainty in any of that. There’s a time when we’re hopefully going to be able to say, ‘Yeah, it’s time to give this a shot again.’ (That’s not) for us to say, ‘Yeah, this is it, he’s ready for sure.’ He’s going to have a challenge again. He’s going to be challenged in the big leagues again, like every young player.”
With winning paramount and developmental boxes being checked, the time for that challenge appears to have arrived.
(Photo: Masterpress / Getty Images)
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