Might top prospect Matt Shaw be making his return to the Cubs’ major-league roster?
“It’s under consideration, for sure,” manager Craig Counsell said after the Cubs’ 6-2 victory over the White Sox. “We’ll get together after the game and discuss.”
Shaw’s absence from Triple-A Iowa’s lineup Sunday generated buzz about a potential return during the Cubs’ upcoming road series against the Marlins.
Shaw opened the season as the team’s third baseman only to earn a demotion after struggling offensively. He had a .172/.294/.241 slash line in his first 18 games as a big-leaguer.
Since going back down to the minors, he has hit well, with a .286/.409/.560 slash line and six home runs in 24 games.
The Cubs have hoped that Shaw eventually would return to reclaim the every-day job at third base, perhaps the one position on the field with question marks for the National League Central-leading team.
A combination of Jon Berti, Nicky Lopez, Vidal Brujan and Justin Turner has been used to man the hot corner, though no one in that group has emerged as a reliable offensive option, all four entering Sunday with batting averages below .215.
“[His return to the majors is] the goal,” Counsell said Friday. “We’re trying to win games, and we’re trying to put the player in a good position to succeed.
“There’s a time we’re going to hopefully be able to say, ‘Yeah, it’s time to give this a shot again.’ But . . . he’s going to have a challenge again, and he’s going to be challenged in the big leagues again, like every young player is.”
Shaw, the Cubs’ first-round draft pick in 2023, is ranked as the best prospect in their organization and the No. 18 prospect overall.
Baserunning chaos
Last year, the Tigers reached the postseason with “pitching chaos.”
This year, the Cubs could do the same with “baserunning chaos.”
Intentional or not, that’s what took place in the sixth, the Cubs improbably scrambling and sliding their way to a game-deciding, three-run inning.
Not surprisingly, center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong — who also tripled and scored in the first inning — was in the middle of it all. With the score tied at 1, his effort to turn a single into a hustle double lured a throw to second base that spurred Brujan to race home and slide underneath a missed tag for the tiebreaking run.
“That’s aggressive, and I kind of love that,” Crow-Armstrong said. “It’s obviously one of those plays that can go either way, if it works out or it doesn’t, but that [expletive] worked. . . . Bru’s fast; he can move. Personally, I love that play.”
In the next at-bat, right fielder Kyle Tucker’s fly ball joined a large number that eluded Sox defenders during a blustery, bright weekend at Wrigley Field. Crow-Armstrong scampered to third, and Tucker executed a tag-dodging, swim-move slide at second base. Both eventually scored to cap the three-run inning.
Those exploits weren’t even unique in this crosstown series. Back-to-back runs scored on ground balls Friday — with first baseman Michael Busch safe on what Crow-Armstrong described as a “sick slide” — and the Cubs stole six bases in their win Saturday.
“That’s been talked about a lot,” Crow-Armstrong said. “From the first meeting of spring training till now, we’re still putting a huge emphasis on being able to produce on the bases.”
Crosstown kings
The Cubs’ victory snapped a 74-74 tie in the all-time series against the Sox.