Shaw’s Start: Former Braveheart Makes 25th MLB Debut for Futures League Alum

WEYMOUTH, Mass. 一 Former Worcester Braveheart Matt Shaw's path to Major League Baseball (MLB) was anything but ordinary. Just like his debut.

Not even two years after the Chicago Cubs made him their 2023 first-round draft pick, the University of Maryland product and Brimfield, Mass., native became the 25th former Futures Leaguer to reach "The Show" when he played in the 2025 MLB Tokyo Series against the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers last Tuesday and Wednesday.

The 23-year-old's fast-tracked ascent only continues a trend of Futures Leaguers advancing to the highest level after the 2024 season marked the third straight in which six alumni made their MLB debuts. With his two games played last week, Shaw is the sixth player from the Futures League's memorable 2020 summer alone to play in MLB.

Shaw played third base and hit fifth for the Cubs, recording his first career hit and run scored in Wednesday's fifth inning. The opening game of the series featured Shaw going up against another Futures League alum in Ben Casparius, the former New Britain Bee and University of Connecticut product who started a game during the Dodgers' World Series run last October.

Shaw entered 2025 as the Cubs organization's consensus top prospect by both MLB.com and Baseball America, with the former ranking him at No. 19 prospect in all of baseball. He made his professional debut just last season, playing in 159 games between the Double-A Tennessee Smokies and Triple-A Iowa Cubs.

As Chicago's No. 13 overall pick in 2023, Shaw is the highest-drafted player in Futures League history and the fourth of now five first-rounders in as many years who spent time in the league. Former Boston College outfielder and 2024 Gold Glove winner Sal Frelick (North Shore '18,'20) was the highest-ever draftee before Shaw, going 15th overall to the Milwaukee Brewers in 2021 before climbing the ladder to the bigs in two years himself.

Shortly after completing his prep career at Worcester Academy, Shaw joined the Bravehearts late in the 2020 season and earned first-team All-Futures League honors despite playing in just 11 games. He hit .342 with eight home runs (all over his last eight contests), two doubles, 11 RBI and 14 runs scored while seeing time as both an infielder and outfielder.

Only Shaw's then-teammate and Futures League MVP Ben Rice (Dartmouth) hit more home runs in the league through that entire regular season, helping Worcester post a first-place finish and make its seventh consecutive championship series appearance. Shaw is the sixth player from that memorable Futures League summer to have already made his MLB debut. In 2021, Shaw returned to play in three games for the Bravehearts, going 4-for-9 with three stolen bases.

Following his initial time with Worcester, Shaw went on to enjoy a standout career at Maryland, where he was the Brooks Wallace Award winner as the top shortstop in college baseball, a consensus first-team All-American and earned Big Ten Player of the Year honors in 2023. He hit .341 with 24 home runs, 90 RBI and 69 RBI during his junior spring before being drafted, completing one of the best seasons in Maryland history. His 53 career homers are a Terrapin program record.

Shaw is the league-high fifth former Braveheart to make his MLB debut, joining Rice, pitchers Aaron Civale (Milwaukee Brewers) and Josh Walker (New York Mets), and infielder/outfielder Dustin Harris (Texas Rangers). Harris had been the most recent Futures Leaguer to ascend to MLB, playing in two games in September before the end of the 2024 regular season.

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