Former MLB Executive Not Fan of How Chicago Cubs Handled Top Prospect

One of the players on the Chicago Cubs that people were excited to see on the field this season was top prospect Matt Shaw.

A spot was opened in the starting lineup when the Cubs completed a trade with the Houston Astros, acquiring star right fielder Kyle Tucker. Third baseman Isaac Paredes was part of the deal, along with pitcher Hayden Wesneski and star prospect Cam Smith.

With the hot corner open, it was Shaw who was tabbed as the starter on Opening Day.

A first-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, Shaw rapidly moved through the system, making his MLB debut after only 159 minor league games.

He was incredibly productive over those games with a .303/.384/.522 slash line, hitting 29 home runs with 28 doubles and eight triples. Shaw recorded 99 RBI, scored 105 runs and stole 46 bases as a well-rounded offensive weapon.

Bringing him up to the Big Leagues despite only 35 games at Triple-A seemed to be the right decision based on his track record. He had accomplished everything there was to do in the minor leagues, producing big numbers at every stop along the way.

Alas, his transition to the Major Leagues proved to be difficult.

Through 18 games and 68 plate appearances, Shaw had a .172/.294/.241 slash line with one home run and one double. He had a high strikeout rate of 26.5% but also produced an impressive 14.7% walk rate.

Ultimately, that wasn’t enough to keep him in the Major Leagues.

Shaw was demoted this week to Triple-A, a move that has drawn a lot of attention in the baseball world with wide-ranging opinions.

One of the people who were not fond of the decision Chicago made was Jim Bowden of The Athletic. He made an appearance recently on Foul Territory to voice his disappointment in the top prospect being sent down.

"I just think it's really disappointing that you send a rookie out after only 20 games,” the former MLB executive said.

"I just think it's really disappointing that you send a rookie out after only 20 games."@JimBowdenGM preaches patience with Matt Shaw after the Cubs optioned him to Triple-A. pic.twitter.com/dhvCje57LN
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) April 16, 2025

Bowden made some good points, as he believes that Shaw was sent down too early.

Prospects have never seen pitching like this in their lives, let alone nine full innings of it. There are a few stellar pitchers they may run into during their time in the minor leagues, but not MLB-caliber arms each and every time they take the field.

The handling of a star prospect like this could be detrimental to their development as well.

Did the Cubs bring Shaw up before he was truly ready? Maybe they realized the error in their ways and are looking to fix that, planning to bring him back up later in the campaign.

Whatever the decision may be, 18 games played and 20 games into a season is certainly not enough to judge a player on, especially one as young and inexperienced as Shaw is.

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