SAN DIEGO — The Chicago Cubs are giving rookie third baseman Matt Shaw a chance to reset and get back on track.
Shaw was optioned to Triple-A Iowa before Tuesday’s game against the San Diego Padres after a slow start to the season. The Cubs activated infielder Vidal Bruján.
Shaw, 23, made the opening-day roster as the Cubs’ regular at third base, but their 2023 first-round draft pick hasn’t been able to get into an offensive groove. Even with a hit in the last two games, Shaw is hitting .172 with a .294 on-base percentage, 18 strikeouts, 10 walks, two extra-base hits and a 58 OPS+ in 18 games.
There wasn’t one tipping point that caused the Cubs to decide Tuesday was the right moment to send Shaw to Triple A. Rather, it was a scenario the Cubs had been weighing since the weekend. Iowa presents an opportunity for Shaw to take a deep breath, digest what he has learned in the majors and work on some small adjustments to come back.
It’s not uncommon for prospects to scuffle early in their big-league careers and go back to Triple A before returning and finding sustained success. There have been numerous examples over the last few years within the organization, notably Nico Hoerner, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, Javier Báez and Kyle Schwarber.
“We don’t want to see a point at which he’s just trying to survive in the plate,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “Part of what makes him excellent is the exit velocity as he drives the ball. It felt like he probably was getting a little bit contact-oriented against some of the pitching we’re facing. And we felt like that was an indication that maybe he’s more survival mode right now, or more he’s more focused on putting the ball in play than he is on driving balls.
“We want him to be our third baseman, and it’s April 15, so it feels like we’ve been playing for a while because of Japan, but we’re so early in the season.”
Although 68 plate appearances is a relatively small sample size, Shaw had ranked among the worst in the majors in average exit velocity (82.7 mph, 2nd percentile), hard-hit percentage (22.5%, 5th percentile) and barrel percentage (2.5%, 15th percentile).
The Cubs also put Eli Morgan on the 15-day injured list with a right elbow impingement. Right-hander Nate Pearson was optioned to Triple A. Left-hander Luke Little and right-hander Daniel Palencia have been recalled.
Shaw’s focus at Triple A will center on mechanics, including his posture when in his stance and the height of his leg kick. Part of the process at the big-league level as a hitter is evaluating what adjustments are needed. Crow-Armstrong and Miguel Amaya made in-season changes last year to their stance and leg kick — Crow-Armstrong added it and Amaya removed it.
“We want to get a productive player back, and sometimes you have to take a step back to do that,” manager Craig Counsell said Tuesday. “At this level, it’s production with where we’re at, and obviously give guys time to work through it, but we just thought we saw enough where we needed to kind of take a break from this level.
“The goal is to bring him back here and have him be the third baseman, but as who the player we think Matt Shaw is.”
Shaw had shown some defensive improvement at third base, though he committed an error — his fourth of the season — in Monday’s 10-4 loss to the San Diego Padres.
With Shaw at Iowa, the Cubs will make a day-by-day determination for who plays third base among their four options: Gage Workman, who started there Tuesday, Jon Berti, Bruján and Justin Turner. Workman could most benefit from being an entrenched everyday player at third base. The Rule 5 draft pick has been limited to six games and just two starts this year.
“He’s been in a hard spot,” Hoyer said. “We were trying to give all the reps to Matt, and (Workman has) played really sparingly, so it’s hard enough to break into the big leagues, even harder when you’re not playing every day. This may give him a chance to get a little bit more regular playing time.”