MIAMI – The Cubs had always seen top prospect Matt Shaw’s stint back in Triple-A as a temporary reset. On Monday, they recalled the infielder from Iowa, determining he was ready to resume his development in the majors.
“The adjustments are going to continue to happen. The growth is going to continue to happen,” manager Craig Counsell said. “There’s going to be failure that you’re going to have to respond to, that’s going to continue to happen. So this is just a step in that journey. And you get a little bit better each time as you go through this.”
Shaw is expected to get the majority of the playing time at third base, although likely not every day. He was in the starting lineup in Monday night’s 8-7 loss to the Marlins, batting ninth and going 2-for-4 with a go-ahead RBI double in the sixth inning.
Since the Cubs sent him down to Triple-A in mid-April, they’d been using a combination of Jon Berti, Vidal Bruján, Justin Turner, Nicky Lopez and, for a time, Gage Workman at third base. Over the last five weeks, Cubs third basemen have a .186 batting average.
In a corresponding move Monday, the Cubs designated Lopez for assignment. After spending spring training with them, then taking a detour to the Angels when he didn’t make the team out of camp, he returned April 23 to replace Workman on the roster and had one hit and four walks in 22 plate appearances. He could remain in the organization if he clears outright waivers and accepts a minor-league assignment.
“There’s no science to this, necessarily, but Matt was playing well,” Counsell said of the timing. “Frankly, we’ve been struggling at third base a little bit, and so it’s just the combination of the two things. You give Matt another shot.”
The Cubs sent Shaw to Triple-A after his first 18 games (68 plate appearances) — a span in which he hit .172 — in order to get him back on track offensively. They wanted him to work on his posture, trim down his leg kick and get back to hitting with confidence.
“The first month of the season or so was pretty overwhelming with [the Tokyo Series in] Japan and everything going on,” Shaw said. “So it’s definitely nice to take a breath back in Triple-A, get a couple things moving in the right direction and to be back.”
In his last nine Triple-A games, Shaw hit .343 with five home runs.
“He’s not a big guy, but he drives the ball to all fields,” team president Jed Hoyer said. “And once we saw him get defensive, that was when we started talking about sending him down, because he was no longer who he is. Getting back to swinging hard, trying to do damage, that was really important to what we needed to see from him.”
Imanaga timeline
Starting left-hander Shota Imanaga (strained left hamstring) likely won’t return from the injured list until “well into June,” Counsell said.
“The injury was a little more significant, probably, than we thought at the outset,” Counsell said. “We have to take time until he can start the running and the pushing off the mound that he would be required to do in a live setting.”
The Cubs hope to have Imanga, who has been playing catch on flat ground, throwing off a mound by the end of next week. He’ll need several weeks to build up from there.
Happ a hair away from return
Left fielder Ian Happ (strained left oblique) said that Tuesday — the first day he’s eligible to be reinstated from the IL — still feels like a realistic return date. He hit throughout the weekend and was set to take on-field batting practice Monday.
