Former Mohawk Matt Shaw, who played in Amsterdam in 2021 from the University of Maryland made the 2025 Chicago Cubs Opening Day roster and became the 19th former Mohawk to play in the Majors.

Shaw hit .369 for the Mohawks in the summer of 2021 with 9 home runs, 12 doubles and 28 RBI. The following summer he was named MVP of the Cape Cod League and in the summer of 2023 the Cubs made him the highest drafted Mohawks player selecting him with the 13th overall pick in the first round.

In his three years at Maryland, from 2021-23, the infielder finished with a .320 batting average, 53 home runs, 166 RBIs and 172 runs. Those latter three marks rank first, second and third in program history, respectively.

As a senior, he received the Brooks Wallace Award, given annually to the best shortstop in college baseball. That same season, he was a consensus First-Team All-American and named Big Ten Player of the Year.

Maryland had the team success to match. The Terps won their first Big Ten championship with a regular season title in 2022. They later won their first Big Ten Tournament championship in 2023. Overall, Shaw was part of three straight NCAA Tournament teams, a feat the program had never accomplished.

“I always loved baseball a lot,” Shaw said. “I always wanted to be a professional baseball player. From as long as I can remember, that was my belief and excitement about baseball. It didn't fully come to fruition until many years later, a lot of time and effort and going through some ups and downs, but it was always something I believed in and something that I really wanted to do.”

Growing up in Brimfield, Massachusetts, Shaw was a three-sport athlete, playing baseball, basketball and soccer. But baseball was always the sport he had a different love for. 

“There was always something about baseball that I really loved,” Shaw said. “I think it was definitely the most unique of the three and probably the most difficult. … As long as I can remember, maybe five years old and on, baseball was what I wanted to do.”

Shaw's love for the sport grew even more when his father turned the backyard of his home into a baseball field. The house is on roughly 90 acres, and the field features a dirt infield, a mound, three bases, and a plate. This is where Shaw, his brothers and his friends spent countless hours daily.  

Shaw’s father, James, was the first in the immediate family to dream of playing professional baseball. He came up short of that lofty goal. So he shifted his focus to teaching his three sons about the sport he loved. He built the diamond as part of that plan.

“Baseball has been able to bring everybody together,” Shaw’s mother, Chris, told The Diamondback.

In his first professional season in 2023, Shaw was promoted 3 times and finished the season in Double-A being coached by former Mohawk Kevin Graber as the two combined to win the Southern League Championship with the Tennessee Smokies.

Soaring through the Cubs system, Shaw played just 159 minor league games before being named the Cubs Opening Day third basemen. In 600 minor league at-bats, Shaw hit .303 with 29 home runs and 99 RBI. He was also named the Southern League MVP for 2024.

The MLB season opened in Tokyo, Japan on March 18th with the Cubs playing the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Tokyo Dome.

“Debuting and playing in the major leagues is what I've been dreaming of for a really long time. Anticipation for that, there's obviously a ton of excitement. Just to have an opportunity like that is amazingly unique in a lot of ways,” said Shaw.

Going up against the defending World Series Champions was no small order. Batting fifth in his debut, Shaw’s first MLB at-bat came in the second inning against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, resulting in a groundout to second. It was an 0-for-4 debut, as the Cubs fell 4-1 to the Dodgers.

The following day, Shaw notched his first hit in the fifth inning on a grounder that deflected off the glove of pitcher Jack Dreyer over to third base for an infield single. Dansby Swanson then followed with a double that drove in Shaw as he scored his first run in the big leagues.

Shaw is considered to be one of the early contenders for NL Rookie of the Year, and we will keep a close eye on his progress as we will all be cheering him on from Amsterdam.

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