Matt Shaw went 1-for-9, with four strikeouts against the Dodgers, but it’s not his bat that raised my eyebrow. He had less than 20 plate appearances in spring training before going over to Japan and then faced a pair of starters who may have the best splitters in baseball.
Yeah, I’m not surprised the 23-year-old rookie who played most of the 2024 season in Double-A looked overmatched at the plate in his first two games in the majors. Shaw’s arm, though, kind of a red flag and a concern that scouts have raised in the past.
Shaw made his MLB debut at third base, a position that is somewhat new to him. Shaw was at third base in 18 games during his college career at Maryland and then logged 66 starts in the minor leagues since he was drafted in the first round in 2023. The top Cubs’ prospect was the starting third baseman for Team USA this past offseason in the Premier12 Tournament and received praise from manager Mike Scioscia.
While Shaw’s place on the Cubs roster was always a formality in 2025, his defensive position hasn’t always been set in stone. Several prospect observers believed that Shaw’s best spot would be at second, but obviously the Cubs felt comfortable enough to create a path for Shaw to start at third.
The biggest red flag from Shaw during the Tokyo series against the Dodgers was his arm strength.
Here’s what MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis wrote about Shaw earlier this week ahead of the prospect’s MLB debut in Tokyo.
Via MLB.com.
While there’s little doubt about Shaw’s ability to make an offensive impact, there are questions about his defense at third base. He’s still learning the position after spending his freshman year at Maryland at second base and his final two college seasons and most of his pro debut at shortstop. He committed eight errors in 63 starts at the hot corner last year.
Shaw’s below-average arm isn’t a great fit for third base, though he compensates with his quickness and fast hands. He’s best suited for second base, though the Cubs have Gold Glover Nico Hoerner there and signed through 2026. But if Shaw hits as expected, his defense will be good enough.
Shaw was charged with a throwing error in Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Dodgers. Sure, Michael Busch could have recognized earlier that the bouncing throw wasn’t getting to first base remotely on time and prioritized getting in front of the ball to prevent it from skipping away.
However, it was still a bad throw from Shaw. Yet, the first half of this play was good from Shaw, but the throw certainly added to the concern about Shaw’s arm strength.
Not Matt Shaw’s best throw pic.twitter.com/DGEMzZliG0
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) March 18, 2025
I remember being highly critical of Nick Madrigal’s arm a couple years ago when he was given an opportunity to play third base and I hate to say it, but Shaw’s throws throughout the first two regular season games were reminiscent of Madrigal.
Even on the good plays from Shaw you can see that his arm is barely doing enough to get the out. Again, the fielding looks good, but in Wednesday’s game there were a few more occasions when Shaw’s arm left a lot to be desired.
Similar to yesterday’s play, but this time Matt Shaw delivers a better throw across the diamond. pic.twitter.com/AaXHcQA71i
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) March 19, 2025
Matt Shaw saves a run with a diving stop. Good scoop by Michael Busch too. pic.twitter.com/FOwpkU76s5
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) March 19, 2025
By the way, put your pitchforks down, as we saw in 2023, you don’t always need to have the strongest arm to be a steady defender at third base. But it is something that stood out about Shaw against the Dodgers.
The good news is that he does seem to have the other parts of playing third base down and as Callis said as long as Shaw hits the defense will be good enough. Also, like we’ve seen with Nico Hoerner in the past, infielders can definitely improve their arm strength as they mature in the league.
Maybe in a year or two this won’t be an issue at all with Shaw, but for now it is a bit of a red flag.
