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 an undoubtedly positive start to the second half for the rookie third baseman, who launched a pinch-hit homer Saturday night 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 Saturday’s game. “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. Friday marked his first start in more than a week, with Counsell keeping Shaw out of the starting lineup for all three of the Cubs’ games against the Yankees in their final 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, re-look 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 the month.
Hoyer didn’t come right out and say it when he spoke before Friday’s game, but the president of baseball operations can do what everyone else can and identify the one position that’s been a hole in the Cubs’ otherwise tremendously productive lineup. Coming into Sunday, Cubs third basemen ranked dead last in baseball 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 shone defensively while struggling at the plate. Any evaluation the Cubs made through 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 rotation solely because of 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, is obviously 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 at third 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 deadline.
“Matt’s getting a great chance to play. 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,” Counsell said Sunday. “[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.”