Huh, so maybe don’t take Seiya Suzuki for granted because we’re five games into the 2026 season, and the Chicago Cubs have not only missed his bat in the middle of the lineup, they’ve also missed his defense in right field. The Matt Shaw experiment has been an adventure to say the least. Fans didn’t get to see his progression during spring training, but it was reportedly shaky then, and on Tuesday night, Shaw very much looked like an infielder trying to learn the outfield.
Shaw has been filling in for Suzuki in right field with Michael Conforto, who has already annoyed fans with his bat, and now fans are jumping on the second-year player. Once Alex Bregman agreed to his contract with the Cubs, Shaw knew he needed to get an outfield glove to prepare for a utility role on the 2026 Cubs. The Cubs made it clear to him that he would get time in right field, and an unforeseen injury to Suzuki during the World Baseball Classic has thrown Shaw into the spotlight quicker than he or the team would have liked.
In the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels, Oswald Peraza crushed a ball to right-center field, and let’s just say that Shaw had a poor route to the ball. Cubs analyst Jim Deshaies was trying to figure out exactly what happened on the play, as Shaw seemingly stopped well short of the wall, but also flashed his glove up.
So, Shaw either lost the ball in the lights, saw that he wasn’t getting to the line drive, so he tried to deke the runner from first base, or he completely misjudged the ball and had no awareness of his proximity to the wall.
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Both things may ultimately be true. Shaw had a terrible route and a bad jump on the ball, and once he realized there was no chance he was going to catch it, he attempted to deke the runner.
Regardless, it’s painfully evident that Shaw still is not close to being average defensively in right field, which is all you’re really asking for out of him. It’s difficult to completely shit all over him because he is learning on the fly, but it makes it all that more frustrating that Suzuki started the year on the injured list, and won’t be back until the next roadtrip at the earliest.
Ironically, the Cubs’ best defender actually had the biggest mistake in the 2-0 loss. Pete Crow-Armstrong attempted a sliding catch in the sixth inning, and he flat-out missed it. Not only was it stunning to see him not come up with the catch because we’re at the point where we expect Crow-Armstrong to make every play, but he compounded the mistake by not keeping the ball in front of him.
That set up the Angels with runners at second and third with nobody out. Phil Maton almost escaped the jam with a strikeout and a ground ball back to him, but with two outs, Logan O’Hoppe hit a screamer past Alex Bregman at third base that drove in the only two runs of the game.
The Cubs’ offense had four hits against the Angels in the shutout loss. Please come back ASAP, Seiya.
