Matt Shaw’s 2025 season already has had many stops, as he made his MLB debut in Tokyo, opened his domestic campaign in Arizona, then returned home to Chicago and started in the Cubs’ home opener.

Next stop for Shaw: Des Moines, Iowa. 

The Cubs’ rookie third baseman was optioned to Triple-A Iowa before Tuesday night’s game in San Diego after starting the season slashing .172/.294/.241 with 18 strikeouts in 68 plate appearances.

[More: MLB prospect rankings: Top Cubs minor leaguers, from No. 30 to No. 21]

Cubs manager Craig Counsell said the decision came down to one thing: production.

“We want to get a productive player back. Sometimes you have to take a step back to do that,” Counsell told reporters in San Diego. “At this level, it’s production, with where we are at. You obviously give guys time to work through it, but we just thought we saw enough, where we needed to take a break from this level, and get some at-bats in Triple-A.

“The goal is to bring him back here and have him be the third baseman, but as the player who we think Matt Shaw is.”

When asked what Shaw needed to work on in Iowa, Counsell was blunt.

“We need to produce more offensively — that’s where we are at,” the manager said. “Sometimes it is some success that reframes it, and gets the good feelings back, and good vibes back and gets him back to being that offensive threat.”

Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, who also spoke to reporters before Tuesday’s game, put a positive face on the difficult decision.

“I don’t look at this as a negative. It’s almost part of the process,” Hoyer said. “I’m sure he learned a lot (in the majors) — we’ve faced a lot of really good pitching. It’s going to be a great learning experience for him, and he has the kind of head on his shoulders that he’ll take what he learned and go back down to Iowa, think about it, and he’ll come back better and more ready to go.”

Hoyer pointed out previous Cubs top prospects who also went back to Iowa after their first taste of the big leagues. 

“We look at (Kyle) Schwarber, (Ian) Happ, (Anthony) Rizzo, Javy (Baez), all those guys have gone back at some point,” Hoyer said. “This is part of it. It’s really hard to break into the big leagues, and even guys that sometimes seem like they had established themselves need to go back for a reset. And I think when you look at all those guys I mentioned, that Craig mentioned, I think all of them, at the time, were not thrilled about it, and I think all of them later on would admit that it was probably the right thing at that point.”

The Cubs hope this is just a temporary setback for MLB.com’s No. 18 overall prospect, who played just 35 games in Triple-A before arriving in the big leagues this season.

As Hoyer said: “This league is unrelenting, and I think at times you need to take a step back before you can take a step forward.”

The next step forward on Shaw’s journey is a step back to Iowa.