Chicago Cubs fans need not worry as one prospect’s recent demotion could help him

The Chicago Cubs are riding on a high after last night’s win against the San Diego Padres, where it took them ten innings to complete their 2-1 victory and take two games to one in the series.

The good news of another Cubs win comes with a heavy price, as the Cubs’ top prospect and starting third baseman Matt Shaw is being sent down to Triple-A after getting off to a slow start.

Fans are rightfully worried and speculate that the worst-case scenario has happened and that’s Shaw could be a bust, but that can’t be farther from the truth, as this is common and happens to rookies all the time.

Shaw’s struggles to start the season

Shaw being sent down to Triple-A is nothing to fear and is not out of the ordinary. Rookies always struggle in their first season and Shaw, even though he is a top prospect in baseball, is no exception.

Shaw’s fellow rookie on the Washington Nationals, Dylan Crews, has also seen his fair share of struggles to start the season, so that should give some fans and Shaw some relief.

In 18 games this season, Shaw has hit under .200 with a slash line of .172/.294/.241 with an OPS and OPS+ of .535 and 58.

Shaw’s struggles haven’t just been on the offensive side and carried over to his defense. He has committed four errors at third base in 23 attempts (141.0 innings), which leads Major League Baseball.

Chicago Cubs fans need to pump the breaks on their fears

President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer spoke to the media about Shaw’s demotion and said he felt comfortable making the decision, given the Cub’s track record of sending their highly taunted prospects down and having them be successful when they come back up.

The Cubs in their recent history have sent down Ian Happ, Kyle Schwarber, Anthony Rizzo, and Javy Báez at one point and all came back to be successful and have successful MLB Careers.

“We look at Schwarber, Happ, Rizzo, Javy, all of those guys have gone back at some point. This is part of it.”

Jed Hoyer on the decision to send Matt Shaw to Triple-A Iowa.”

“We look at Schwarber, Happ, Rizzo, Javy, all of those guys have gone back at some point. This is part of it.”

Jed Hoyer on the decision to send Matt Shaw to Triple-A Iowa. pic.twitter.com/qQimSFdJL6

— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) April 16, 2025

This track record should give fans hope that Hoyer and the Cubs know what they’re doing, and Shaw should come back better than ever.

Shaw isn’t long for the minors

Shaw shouldn’t be down in the minors for too long and could be back up in the big leagues by June if he figures out how to hit big-league pitching.

One issue Shaw has is his high leg kick when he swings the bat. Shaw has an extremely closed stance and his high leg kick will affect his ability to hit breaking balls with high spin rates and fastballs up in the zone with velocity.

While down with Iowa Shaw could look to cut down his leg cut a little to better his timing.

Hopefully, Shaw can figure things out and get back up to Wrigley to help the Cubs make their push to the playoffs.