The Cubs aren’t likely to drastically alter their trade-deadline plans because Matt Shaw had a few good games at the plate.
But it was a positive start to the second half for the rookie third baseman, who launched a pinch-hit home run Saturday and banged out four hits during the three-game weekend series against the Red Sox.
“He’s had two really nice days at the plate after the All-Star break, and that’s huge, get a player going, get the confidence [going] as much as anything,” manager Craig Counsell said after the game Saturday. “You put in some work, you try to make some adjustments, you see results from those adjustments, that builds confidence, for sure.”
Shaw was feeling good Saturday night, happy to have the All-Star break as a chance to reset. He started Friday for the first time in more than a week after Counsell had kept him out of the starting lineup for all three games against the Yankees in the Cubs’ last series of the first half.
“Being able to reset is huge,” Shaw said Saturday. “The break was really a nice time to kind of relax, take a deep breath and reset a little bit, relook at myself and my motivations and all those things for this year. It was really nice. I feel really ready being back.
“Every day, I’m just trying to come with a good attitude and be ready to play. It comes when it comes. It’s different for every guy.”
Shaw carried a ghastly .198 batting average and a .556 OPS into the break, prompting reasonable questions about whether Jed Hoyer’s front office would add finding a third baseman to its to-do list ahead of the trade deadline at the end of July.
Hoyer didn’t come right out and say it when he spoke before the game Friday, but he can do what everyone else can: identify the one position that has been a hole in the Cubs’ otherwise productive lineup. Coming into Sunday, Shaw ranked last in the majors with a .534 OPS.
Shaw, who made the Opening Day roster but was sent down to Triple-A in mid-April before returning a month later, has sparkled defensively while struggling at the plate. The Cubs, after the 232 plate appearances Shaw had in the first half — 164 of which came after his return from the minors — wouldn’t figure to make a 180 degree turn solely based on the seven plate appearances he had, however successful, against the Red Sox this weekend.
“I don’t think we’d make those observations after two days, decisions like that after two days,” Counsell said Sunday. “You’re always encouraged more so by the confidence it gives a player. And then you have to let that play out over time.”
While Shaw, who earlier this year ranked as one of the best prospects in baseball, obviously is still the Cubs’ long-term plan at the hot corner, opportunities to win the World Series don’t come around often, and a deadline deal that might bring in someone to temporarily supplant Shaw could boost the team’s championship chances.
But much like Hoyer was mum Friday, Counsell, too, isn’t revealing anything about any potential changes that might arrive by the trade deadline.
“Matt’s getting a great chance to play,’’ Counsell said. ‘‘He’s going to continue to get a chance to play. But I don’t think any evaluation is ever made [based] on two days. [Development is] messy, and it’s uneven, and it’s not a straight line. You just keep trying. The player keeps working; the coaches keep coaching. You enjoy the successes and sleep good at night, but it never stops.
“Our path with Matt Shaw is: Matt’s going to play a lot of third base for us. That’s the plan. We’re going to keep trying to help him get better, and nothing about the schedule or the calendar affects that.”