Matt Shaw has made subtle, yet sustainable, improvements since returning from minors

Matt Shaw came into the 2025 MLB season as the presumptive starting third baseman for the Chicago Cubs following the offseason trade of Isaac Paredes.

Suffice to say, he struggled with those responsibilities in his initial cup of coffee at the big league level.

In 68 plate appearances prior to his demotion, Shaw slashed just .172/.294/.241 with a disturbing 26.5% strikeout rate. There were some positive signs — he had a 14.7% walk rate to work with, and his .231 BABIP suggested a positive regression was forthcoming — but it was hardly the debut Cubs fans expected from the top prospect.

After a mid-April demotion to get his head (and swing) straight, Shaw has returned to Chicago with better production and an aggressive approach.

Matt Shaw is hitting more because he's swinging more

In his 11 games (43 plate appearances) in May after being recalled, Shaw hit .359/.419/.487, good for a 159 wRC+. His ISO (.128) was practically double what he posted in April, as was his BABIP (.438). He also stole five bases for good measure, which, while not indicative of any substantial changes to his plate approach, does suggest he's playing more freely and is growing comfortable at the big league level.

He's also been playing some very solid defense since his return, which is a breath of fresh air after years of watching players like Christopher Morel, Jon Berti, and Nick Madrigal flounder at the position (save for the latter's shockingly good 2023 campaign).

What's funny about Shaw's numbers is that he hasn't gotten more selective like most prospects who need a reset in the minors. Instead, he's being more aggressive at the plate on pitches near the zone.

His strikeout rate (16.3%) is down over ten percentage points since returning, though his walk rate (9.3%, down from 14.7%) follows the same trend. He's seeing a similar number of pitches per plate appearance (4.0 in May, 4.01 in April), but the percentage of pitches being thrown to him for strikes (68% in May, 60% in April) has skyrocketed.

In effect, Shaw is both being pitched differently (a virtue of batting ahead of Ian Happ and Kyle Tucker) and making different swing decisions. He isn't trying to exhibit a perfect mastery of the strike zone, but instead, he's taking what he gets and doing damage.

The refined approach is working thus far. His hard hit rate (18.8%) is up about 50% from his first stint, and he's hitting a lot more line drives (31.3% of the time, compared to 20.5% prior to his demotion). Sure, he's pulling the ball less and hitting very few fly balls — which have dampened his power output — but it's clear Shaw is no longer the "easy out" he was just six weeks ago.

This is far from the Platonic ideal of Shaw. More power is in order as he grows more comfortable against big league pitching, and it'd be nice to see him pull a fly ball once in a while. For now, though, Shaw is providing everything the Cubs need at third base: a competent baseball player.