Chicago Cubs Bench Coach Offers High Praise for Mindset of Rookie Sensation

The Chicago Cubs have been the discussion of baseball for large portions of the offseason.

From making the biggest trade of the winter to being involved until the final hour in negotiations for the top free agent on the market, the Cubs have been a large talking point for fans around the league. Someone who has been at the center of that chatter ironically has not even taken a big league at bat yet.

Following Chicago's miss on Alex Bregman, top prospect Matt Shaw is presumed to be stepping into the every day role at third base in his first year in Major League Baseball. The 23-year-old has raked at all levels of the minor leagues and looks beyond ready to take the next step.

After dealing with an oblique injury which held him out of spring training games for a little while, Shaw has gotten back on the field and already started to perform at a high level.

Whether or not the youngster is able to make the trip to Japan to kick off the season against the Los Angeles Dodgers just 10 days from now remains to be seen after the delayed start, but it seems Shaw is exactly where the Cubs want him to be in terms of his development headed into the season.

Chicago's bench coach Ryan Flaherty spoke about how ahead of his age Shaw is and expressed confidence in his ability to translate quickly at the next level.

"He’s got a really slow heartbeat," Flaherty told Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. "You watch him in the on-deck circle, it’s like: ‘Are you really ready to hit right now?’ He’s got that calmness and confidence in himself and the way he prepares. He’s got a ton of confidence without being too cocky...he’s figured out every level he’s gone to [and] found a way to master it pretty quickly. There will probably be growing pains early in the year, but the track record shows that he’ll adjust quickly."

If there's one sign which says more than anything else that Shaw is ready for this, it's the leap he took during the 2024 season after making the jump from Double-A to Triple-A.

Slashing a very solid .279/.373/.468 with 14 home runs and 50 RBI over the first 86 games of the season in Tennessee, the slugger took it up a notch in the final 35 games of the year in Iowa.

Finishing the year in Triple-A with a .298/.395/.534 line and adding an additional seven home runs and 21 RBI, Shaw showed no difficulty adjusting to the major step up in levels as he continued his march towards the big leagues.

Now seemingly knocking on the doorstep, Shaw is preparing to make his biggest leap yet. Clearly though, while it may take some time for him to figure it out in the highest level of baseball on planet Earth, he has the confidence of his coaching staff that it won't be long before he establishes himself as a star.

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