Matt Shaw is ready to come back to the majors.

That is, at least, the opinion of Iowa Cubs co-hitting coach Rick Strickland.

Strickland has worked with the recently demoted Shaw at Triple-A Iowa and believes the young third baseman is back on track.

“He’s ready,” Strickland told the Des Moines Register. “He’s ready to go back.”

Shaw has slashed .302/.455/.897 with four extra base hits, seven runs and 11 walks compared to just four strikeouts in the 12 games he has played with Iowa since his April 15 demotion. 

The Chicago Cubs sent Shaw to Iowa after he opened the season as their starting third baseman. The University of Maryland product struggled in his first taste of big-league action, slashing .172/.294/.535, with one home run, one double and 18 strikeouts compared to 10 walks in 18 games with Chicago.

Shaw entered the year as the Cubs’ consensus No. 1 prospect and the 19th-rated prospect in all of baseball, according to MLB.com. Shaw was the Cubs’ first-round pick in 2023 — selected 13th overall — and flew through the system, reaching Double-A in 2023. He played 35 games in Iowa in 2024, posting a .298/.395/.929 slash line.

Shaw started slowly after the demotion to Iowa, opening up his Triple-A campaign with a 1-for-17 slide. But Strickland still had confidence in him.

“When he came back, the confidence was down a little bit. Of course it should be. He’s struggling, right?” Strickland told the Register. “Even when he was not getting the results [in Iowa], he was feeling much better.”

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And the result of Shaw’s newfound confidence was a six-game hitting streak entering Saturday, including a four-hit day April 29 against Buffalo. 

“I didn’t think coming back here would be much of a problem,” Strickland said to the Register. “Getting him back here a little bit allowed him enough time to catch his break and get it back together. I would say nothing special as far as mechanical tricks or things we did. It’s really probably just getting that mental reset more than anything.”

The Cubs still are searching for answers at third base, with five other players already having seen playing time at the hot corner in 2025. They could look to call Shaw back up to Chicago in the near future and hope Strickland is right.