Matt Shaw learned last week that he would indeed get to travel to Tokyo with the Chicago Cubs to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in a season-opening, two-game series.
It was never in doubt that Shaw would be a promising Cubs rookie eventually, but it’s now reality that the 2023 first-round pick out of Maryland is a big leaguer.
He’s not expected to just be a small contributor. He hit .284 across Double-A and Triple-A last season, belting 21 home runs and stealing 31 bases.
Shaw is ranked the No. 19 prospect in baseball by MLB.com.
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And that website’s Jordan Bastian has a bold prediction: Matt Shaw will win Rookie of the Year, Bastian writes.
It’s quite the claim even heading just into the matchup with the Dodgers, who have Japanese signee Roki Sasaki as a technical rookie who has plenty of major-league professional experience in his home country.
Shaw, 23, would be the seventh Cubs player to win the NL Rookie of the Year award.
He’d be the first since 2015, when Kris Bryant won it as the other Cubs third baseman to do so. And a year after Bryant won Rookie of the Year, Chicago broke its World Series curse.
All told, a big rookie season for Shaw could mean many great things to come for the Cubbies.
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