The Chicago Cubs are opening the 2025 regular season early this year, taking on the Los Angeles Dodgers in Japan next week. The two-game set will feature some of the biggest stars in baseball, some of Japan’s finest MLB players, and two top contenders in the National League. This series may also feature one of Chicago’s top prospects. It was announced that Matt Shaw will be going to Japan with the team and may see his first major league action in the Tokyo Series.
Shaw, 23, is the 19th-ranked prospect in baseball according to mlb.com and the top prospect in the Chicago Cubs minor league system. He had an oblique injury earlier in the spring but has since recovered to play in Arizona over the last couple of weeks. He has shown the front office enough to make them add him to the 31-man Tokyo Series roster. He is not yet on the active 40-man roster, so the Chicago Cubs must make room for the infield prospect before he can officially take the field next week. Keegan Thompson is a likely candidate to be designated for assignment.
Matt Shaw To Join Chicago Cubs For Tokyo Series
The 2025 baseball season is starting early for the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers. The marquee brands and top National League contenders are heading to Japan to open the regular season in the 2025 Tokyo Series starting next Wednesday. The brief two-game set will feature some of the biggest stars in the sport as well as some of Japan’s top MLB talent. One player who may fly under the radar heading over to Japan next week is Shaw.
Shaw, 23, is the Chicago Cubs top prospect and is ranked 19th in all of baseball according to mlb.com. It was announced Tuesday the infield prospect would be joining the team for the trip to Japan. This was far from a certainty coming into the spring, with conversation swirling around the Chicago Cubs potentially signing Alex Bregman or trading for other top infielders Nolan Arenado, Bo Bichette, or Vlad Guerrero Jr.
An oblique injury also threatened Shaw’s availability for the opening series of the 2025 season. Sustained early in February, Shaw was sidelined with an oblique injury. His path to Japan was complicated before any games were played in Arizona this spring. Despite these factors, Shaw will be in attendance for the ten-day trip to Japan and will be added to the Chicago Cubs 40-man active roster and 31-man Tokyo Series roster by the time the Cubs take the field next week.
Reaction To Shaw Making It To the Show
When he found out that he was going to Japan, Shaw said, “Actually being out there, making my debut — hopefully — playing against the reigning World Series champs, I mean, how amazing would that be? I think that’ll be more of a surreal moment. But still a couple of days before they’ll let us know those lineups, so I still have to earn that spot.’’
Shaw has done his best to earn that spot since being drafted by the Chicago Cubs with the 13th pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. Shaw has been tearing it up. In 2023, Shaw hit .357 with a .400 OBP, .618 SLG, 8 HR, 28 RBI, and 15 SB in 38 games between high-A and AA ball. He followed that up in 2024 by hitting .284 with a .379 OBP, .488 SLG, 21 HR, 71 RBI, and 31 SB in 121 games between AA and AAA. So far this spring, Shaw has hit .313 with a .421 OBP, .375 SLG, 4 RBI, and 1 SB in six games since returning from the oblique injury.
Chicago Cubs Manager Craig Counsell and President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer commented on Shaw making the Tokyo Series roster, with Counsell saying, ‘‘We said going into this he’s got the upper hand, right? So just be who you are, and that’s what we’ve seen. And that means we think he’s got a chance to be a very, very good player, an impact player. This is the start of it.’’ The man who ultimately decided to bring Shaw up to the roster Jed Hoyer said, ‘‘The fact that he was injured made us wait longer but he’s obviously come back, proven his health, played well.’’
Final Thoughts
I am excited to see Shaw in the Cubbie Blue next week when the season starts. Chicago Cubs fans have been hearing about Shaw for years. With all of the speculation around the team signing Alex Bregman or finding a way to bring in Bo Bichette or Vlad Guerrero Jr. from Toronto or Nolan Arenado from St. Louis, the fact that Shaw emerged from those conversations as the best option for the team sets some high expectations for the Cubs’ top prospect.
While I am excited to see him play, I don’t know if I would’ve been so hasty in bringing him up to the major league roster. Injuries are bound to occur and spots will open up as the season progresses. Shaw could be eased into major league play rather than thrown into the fire against the reigning World Series champion Dodgers. All signs point to Thompson being the casualty in making Shaw available on the 40-man roster. I’m not sure that losing a valuable bullpen piece is a worthwhile trade for some early-season action for the 23-year-old Shaw.
Hoyer addressed the tough decision on Thompson, acknowledging, ‘‘It is hard to evaluate spring training, but that was how we ultimately made the decision. I thought Keegan threw well here, but ultimately we felt like some guys were better. Realistically, we knew coming into camp that we’d have to make some hard decisions. Some we’ve had to make, some we have to make in the future.”
