Cubs’ Youth Movement: Matt Shaw’s journey echoes PCA's rise

Rick Scuteri - USA Today Sports

Anthony Pasquale - Staff Writer - 5 hours ago

The Cubs' No. 1 prospect was called up to the major leagues ahead of the Cubs’ trip to Miami this week.

In two games since being reinstated, Shaw is 4-9 with two doubles and two runs knocked in. While the sample size is extremely limited, Shaw made some adjustments when he was back in the minors that should help him at the big league level.

Shaw was down in AAA for 24 games and hit .286. The third baseman hit six home runs, including back-to-back games with two home runs, before forcing the Cubs' hand and getting called back up to the big leagues.

He was originally sent down due to some struggles at the plate. Shaw hit just .172 in 18 games, with just two extra base hits and three runs knocked in. While the 23-year-old had tore up the minor leagues in his career (slashing .301/.388/.527) it did not quite translate during his first stint in the show.

However, the Cubs’ replacements at third base were not much better. The combination of Vidal Brujan, Jon Berti, and Nicky Lopez mustered up six hits collectively in the entire month of May while Shaw was in AAA. Shaw has four alone in two games back.

Not to mention, Shaw is obviously the best third base option defensively, so it made sense that the Cubs brought him back up. Of the options they have had deployed at third this year (Brujan, Berti, Lopez, Gage Workman and Justin Turner) Shaw has been the best.

While some think he may have some more developing to do, he is the Cubs’ best chance to win at the position. If anything, be mad at Jed Hoyer and Co. for not getting Shaw enough insurance or Tom Ricketts for not okaying the move for Alex Bregman.

But I encourage all Cubs fans to be patient with Shaw, just as we were last season with Pete Crow-Armstrong, who appears to be the league’s next budding superstar.

In Shaw’s first 20 big league games, he has an OPS of just .610. Pete Crow-Armstrong did not get his first major league hit until his 15th big league game. Through his first 20 career games, Armstrong had just five hits and was hitting just .139.

PCA started in the minors last season, struggled during a brief call-up, fixed some things in the minors, and returned as a new player. Now, one who is on pace for the Cubs’ first 40/40 season in their history, and to be just the seventh player ever in the illustrious club.

Now it would be ludicrous to expect Shaw to make that kind of leap and insert himself into MVP conversations in a calendar year, but the point is that Shaw is the Cubs’ No. 1 prospect for a reason, and he is only 20 games into his MLB career. If the Cubs gave up on PCA after just 20 games, they wouldn’t have an MVP candidate in their lineup today.

It takes time to adjust to MLB sometimes, and as Shaw continues to improve during his second stint in the pros, remember that Pete Crow-Armstrong needed a grace period as well. It wasn’t until PCA was nearing his 115th game when he finally got his career batting average to stay over .200 — and now he’s regarded as one of the league’s best young players, and it’s only been 70 games since.

The same can, and will be said for Moises Ballesteros, who was sent back down to AAA to make room for a healthy Ian Happ. Ballesteros will face struggles, but ultimately, you’ll see why he is regarded as such a strong hitting prospect in the Cubs system — sometimes it just takes time.