The Chicago Cubs' confidence in Matt Shaw is quickly bottoming out

Following the Chicago Cubs' loss to the San Diego Padres on Monday night, the talk has understandably been about a bullpen that simply doesn’t have enough decent arms to sustain a team that wants to contend. However, a move Craig Counsell made late in that contest when it was still in doubt shows another story emerging.

Not that long ago, comments around Matt Shaw were (correctly) that the idea that it was time to give up on the young third baseman was premature. After all, while he hasn’t been hitting much at all, it is only April. There was also evidence that his problem wasn’t that he was having problems seeing the ball based on his walk rate. However, while patience has been cautioned, Shaw’s own franchise may be losing faith quickly.

On Monday night, the Chicago Cubs looked like they might be on the verge of battling back after blowing a 3-1 lead to the Padres as they scored a run to make it 6-4, and Miguel Amaya was standing on second base with two out. Matt Shaw’s turn in the order was due up, but he didn’t take the AB. Instead, Counsell chose to pinch hit with Jon Berti, a right-handed batter against a right-handed pitcher.

Berti grounded out, the inning ended, and the Cubs eventually lost 10-4, but that’s all beside the point. The message was sent loud and clear. Chicago didn’t trust their young player who is projected to be a much better slugger, to take his cuts with the game on the line.

Granted, there’s nothing in Shaw’s hit profile right now that says it was the wrong decision on Counsell’s part. According to Baseball Savant, Shaw is in the bottom 2% of major league baseball in average exit velocity (82.7), the bottom 5% in hard hit percentage (22.5), and the bottom 7% in xslug (.256). He’s only barreling up the ball 2.5% of the time compared to a major league average of 7.5% and he didn’t hit a ball out of the infield on Monday night.

Shaw also hasn’t been very good on defense, currently scoring a -1 rating on outs above average (and committed an error against San Diego) which means that the Cubs aren’t going to be too worried about missing his glove when he’s lifted for a pinch hitter. 

While it seems likely that the team is going to be making some moves today with Eli Morgan going on the IL and maybe even Nate Pearson getting a bus ticket to Iowa, it’s too early to think Matt Shaw might be on his way down as well. Especially since options at 3B for the big league club are not great. 

However, it doesn’t feel like the Chicago Cubs have anything close to confidence in their rookie infielder. If he doesn’t turn around essentially everything soon, a trip to the minors doesn’t seem far off.