Matt Shaw Reportedly Being Activated Tuesday, Kevin Alcántara’s Clock Ticking

As Jesse Rogers first reported, the Cubs are planning to activate utilityman Matt Shaw from the IL on Tuesday. Shaw has been out since May 19 with low back tightness and the Cubs probably would have preferred to get him a few more reps at Triple-A Iowa, but it’s been clear for a while now that they need him back with the big club. While he was only batting .242 with a 94 wRC+ over 104 plate appearances, the organization might be ready to give up on Kevin Alcántara.

The fans have certainly given up on the Jaguar after his baserunning gaffes and an inability to parlay minor league success to acceptable big league production. Even though he’s only gotten 32 MLB plate appearances over brief stints in each of the last three seasons, there’s a reason the coaching staff hasn’t seen fit to give him more run. As I’ve noted previously, this feels very much like another iteration of Nelson Velázquez or Alexander Canario.

Alcántara will be out of options after this season, and it’s really difficult to imagine the organization suddenly getting comfortable with him being a full-time member of the roster in 2027 and beyond. He’s made at least two significant baserunning mistakes after being chewed out by Craig Counsell during a spring training drill, making him a liability in even a limited role.

There’s a school of thought that says Alcántara would actually be far more valuable with regular playing time, as he needs more freedom for his power to offset other issues. At the same time, his big strikeout rate and questionable baseball IQ might be further exposed. Given how poorly this team is playing, there’s no room for more unforced errors. And it’s not as though Alcántara is worth much in a trade, what with his mental gaffes and lack of options.

But hey, he’s still toolsy af and at least one other team out there might think they can fix him.

Shaw’s return to the roster will give Counsell more flexibility to rest the “terrible” Alex Bregman while also giving Pedro Ramírez the chance to get regular at-bats with the I-Cubs. Wait, could that mean Alcántara will stay up with Ramírez going down to accommodate Shaw? No, but we’ll find out for sure on Tuesday.

Or we’ll find out now. Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register reported that Alcantara is heading back to Triple-A.