Chicago Cubs Hitting Coach Makes Bold Statement Regarding Top Prospect

The Chicago Cubs are off to a great start this season. They are 21-13 on the year and lead the National League Central division by three games.

The Cubs look like an easy pick to win their division and make it back to the playoffs as one of the top three seeds in 2025. A big part of their success has been their offensive output.

Chicago leads the MLB in runs scored and they have hit the third-most home runs, while owning the best batting average in the bigs.

However, there is one glaring hole in the lineup and that is at the hot corner.

The Northsiders began the season with their top prospect Matt Shaw playing third base. In 18 games played, the right-handed batter slashed .172/.294/.241 with one home run, three RBI and 18 strikeouts. His lack of production at the plate was a reason for the Cubs optioning Shaw to Triple-A a few weeks back.

To replace their top prospect, Chicago has started Jon Berti, Vidal Brujan and Gage Workman at third base. Justin Turner has played eight innings at the position, but he is mainly a platoon player for first base.

At third base this season, the Cubs have committed the most errors and they have the second-lowest fielding percentage. At the plate, their current third baseman on the Major League roster have slashed .198/.295/.233 with no home runs.

Shaw has left the yard once, but he is not on the roster at the moment. The good news is the 23-year-old is close to making a return to the MLB.

Triple-A hitting coach Rick Strickland has stated that Shaw is ready make his return to Wrigley Field.

“He’s ready. He's ready to go back," Strickland said, per Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register.

With the Iowa Cubs, the former first-round draft pick is slashing .302/.455/.442 with one home run, four RBI and seven runs scored in seven games played. The best part about his game is he has significantly dropped his strikeout rate as he has went down on strikes just four times.

As far as adjustments at the plate, there was not much he changed. In fact, it was a lot more of a mental reset than anything mechanical.

"He is a hitter ... It’s just something that he naturally does. So getting him back here a little bit allowed him enough time to catch his break and get it back together. I would say nothing special as far as mechanical tricks or things we did. It’s really probably just getting that mental reset more than anything," Strickland said.

Getting the mind right is half the battle in baseball. The demotion is something that needed to happen and it seems Shaw has been taking it well and improving his game.

It is always tough to live up to the hype of being the top prospect and making your debut. There is no doubt Shaw felt the pressure in his first taste of big league action. But he is showing out in Triple-A and Chicago could have him back in the lineup soon.

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