Matt Shaw

Matthew James Shaw

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 185 lb.
• School University of Maryland
• High School Worcester Academy
• Debut March 18, 2025

• Born November 6, 2001 in Springfield, MA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Matt Shaw reached AAA his second pro season, played for Team USA and was the first player to make his big league debut in 2025.

Shaw hit .332/.409/.544 with 42 runs and 16 doubles in 45 games as a college freshman at the University of Maryland. Only Jaxon Hallmark had more hits among Big Ten Conference players and only Paul Toetz had more doubles. In 2022, the sophomore swatted 22 homers and batted .290/.381/.604 with 67 RBI in 60 games. He was 6th in the Big Ten in RBI and second in home runs, two shy of Bubba Alleyne. That summer, he hit .360/.432/.574 for the Bourne Braves, leading in all three slash categories; he was 3rd with 21 steals (in 24 tries). He won the Cape Cod League MVP for his efforts; the last Terrapin to take home the award had been Jim Norris 53 years prior.

As a junior, Shaw put up another dominant season at .341/.445/.697 with 80 runs, 24 homers, 69 RBI, 43 walks and 18 steals (caught once) in 62 games. He led the Big Ten in homers, set the school career home run record and won Big Ten Player of the Year. The American Baseball Coaches Association named him All-American at short. The Chicago Cubs took him 13th overall in the 2023 amateur draft, between Tommy Troy and Kyle Teel, and he signed for a $4.8+ million bonus.

Making his pro debut, he played for the ACL Cubs (4 for 8, 2 BB, 2B, HR), South Bend Cubs (.393/.427/.655 in 20 G) and Tennessee Smokies (.292/.329/.523 in 15 G), having reached AA his first summer as a pro in 2023. Entering 2024, he was rated as one of baseball's top prospects; Baseball Prospectus had him at #21 and Baseball America 31st.

He had a busy 2024. In the 2024 Futures Game, he took over for Cam Collier as a the NL third baseman. He was retired by Ben Kudrna and struck out facing Winston Santos. He split the summer between the Smokies (.279/.373/.468 in 86 G) and Iowa Cubs (.298/.395/.534 in 35 G), totaling 78 runs, 21 homers, 71 RBI, 62 walks and 31 swipes in 42 tries. Among Cubs farmhands, he was second in runs (8 behind Jonathon Long), tied Andy Garriola for the most homers, 6th in RBI, 4th in steals and tied Felix Stevens for 6th in walks. Mostly a third baseman that summer, he also played at least 20 games at both middle infield slots. He then made the US team for the 2024 Premier 12. He singled off Puerto Rico's Jonathan Bermúdez his first time up, going 3-for-3 that day when his teammates mustered three hits combined. The next day, he had four hits (a triple shy of the cycle) and drove in 7 against the Dutch national team, taking Pim Vijfvinkel deep. He kept on rolling - two hits and two runs versus Panama, 3 RBI against Mexico and a two-run homer off Venezuela's Mario Sanchez - in pool play, he had gone 11-for-19 with a double, triple, two homers, six runs and twelve RBI. He was 3-for-15 with a double in the super round and Bronze Medal Game, though, to fall back to Earth. He had still batted .412/.500/.706 with 7 runs and 14 RBI in 9 games, while handling 19 chances error-free at the hot corner, playing a key role in the US winning a Bronze. Among the tourney leaders, he tied Jermaine Palacios for 5th in runs, trailed only Chandler Simpson and MVP Chieh-Hsien Chen in hits, tied for 4th in home runs, led in RBI (3 ahead of teammate Ryan Ward) and tied Sabin Ceballos for 4th in OBP. He was named the All-Star third baseman for his performance.

Heading into the 2025 season, the Cubs had a hole to fill at third base and two candidates to fill it in Matt and fellow #1 pick, in 2024, Cam Smith. What looked like it was shaping up to be an epic battle in Spring training got a measure of clarity when the Cubs accepted to include Smith in a December trade for OF Kyle Tucker, making it clear that the job at the hot corner was Shaw's to lose. Indeed, he was added to the Cubs' roster for their two-game season-opening series against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Tokyo, Japan. He thus became the first player to make his debut in the majors that season, as the Cubs' starting third baseman and #6 hitter in the first game. His first major league hit came the next day, against Jack Dreyer who was making his big league debut; it was an infield single off Dreyer's glove. His first career homer came on March 29th - the first game he did not start. It came as a pinch-hitter for fellow rookie Gage Workman in the 7th, off Jalen Beeks of the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, he struggled in his first three weeks, hitting .172 in 18 games with 1 homer and 3 RBIs and was sent down to AAA Iowa on April 15th. He spent a month there, hitting .286 with 6 homers and 14 RBIs in 24 games, and was called back to Chicago on May 19th. He ended up playing 126 games for the Cubs, batting .226 with 13 homers and 44 RBIs for an OPS+ of 99. He was the team's regular third baseman, with 124 games at the position. He played 8 postseason games over two series, going just 2 for 17 with no extra-base hits or runs and just one RBI.

Following his rookie season, the Cubs signed Alex Bregman to a big free agent contract, which made it clear that Matt would need to learn a new position. He started the 2026 season playing right field.

Further Reading

• Jordan Bastian: "Cubs' top pick Shaw gets greeting from fellow shortstop Swanson", mlb.com, July 10, 2023. [1]
• Jordan Bastian: "Shaw preps for MLB debut in familiar surroundings ... Tokyo?", mlb.com, March 16, 2025. [2]
• Jesse Friedman: "Cubs bringing No. 1 prospect Shaw for Tokyo Series: Brown, Wicks, McGuire expected to be on Chicago's travel roster for Japan", mlb.com, March 11, 2025. [3]

Related Sites

• Matt Shaw on mlb.com
• BR Register page
• University of Maryland bio