Door Officially Open for Top Cubs Prospect to Make MLB Debut in Japan

Cubs manager Craig Counsell revealed that Matt Shaw will be joining the team on their flight to Japan, officially opening the door for the organization's top prospect to make his MLB debut on Opening Day.

To be clear this isn't quite the Cubs saying that Shaw is 100% making it on the active roster for the first two regular season games against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Japan, but obviously that is now under consideration with Shaw making the trip. The Cubs are taking 31 total players, 26 have to be named to the active roster by next week. That will leave five players on a taxi squad that will also be in Japan just in case they need to fill in because of injury.

If Shaw does get added to the 26-man active roster next Tuesday, then the Cubs would need to move someone off their 40-man roster as Shaw is currently not on it. There has been speculation in the past couple days that the final position player added to the active roster for the two-game set in Japan will come down to Shaw or outfield prospect Kevin Alcántara, who is already on the 40-man roster.

However, Alcántara has been told he won't be going to Japan.

The Cubs can't change their player pool once they head over to Japan. Shaw is starting at third base and batting sixth against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday.

(Previous Update)

The Cubs are going to finalize their roster for Japan later today before they fly overseas and it seems like the team may play it safe when it comes to their top prospect Matt Shaw.

Cubs beat reporter Patrick Mooney mentioned on Monday night in The Athletic that although Shaw and fellow top-100 prospect Kevin Alcántara were told to be packed and ready to go the latter is the one who the Cubs are leaning toward taking to Japan.

Via The Athletic.

The team plans to finalize its travel roster Tuesday morning and leave promptly following an afternoon Cactus League game. Club officials appeared to be leaning toward Alcántara over Shaw and shared their expectations with the players but delayed any announcement.

Mooney later noted that Alcántara might ultimately get the edge over Shaw for the first two regular season games against the Los Angeles Dodgers because the outfielder is already on the 40-man roster. Bringing Shaw along would force the Cubs to bump someone else off the 40-man, which is a decision they can wait to do for another few weeks before the team's Opening Day in the United States.

Shaw missed the first couple weeks of Cactus League action because of an oblique issue. There was no strain, but there was enough tightness in the area to delay the infielder's start to spring training.

The third baseman played in his fifth game on Monday and Shaw recorded his second multi-hit game, going 2-for-2, with a walk. He drove in a run, stole a base and scored a run in the Cubs' 7-4 win over the Cleveland Guardians.

Alcántara has the advantage of already being on the 40-man roster; Shaw does not. Shaw also has not had a complete ramp-up because of the oblique issue he encountered in February, which gives the Cubs another reason to be cautious with their 2023 first-round pick.

Shaw has a total of 16 plate appearances in spring training games since returning from his oblique injury.

The Cubs have already decided to leave starting second baseman Nico Hoerner stateside as he continues to rehab from his right flexor tendon surgery. Hoerner is expected to play in minor league games in Arizona starting this week while the Cubs are away in Japan. The team remains optimistic that Hoerner will be back at the end of the month and by then Shaw should be a lock to start at third base as well.

We'll see how safe the Cubs go with Shaw today, but for now it sounds like it'll be Alcántara making the trip to Japan over him.