Cubs option Alcantara, plan to activate Shaw

Posted June 08, 2026 4:40 pm

By Patrick Mooney

Kevin Alcantara was already working with a limited runway to establish his narrow role on the Cubs’ roster. And then he made a glaring mistake on “Sunday Night Baseball.”

The Cubs have optioned Alcantara, 23, to Triple-A Iowa while planning to activate Matt Shaw from the injured list for Tuesday’s game against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, according to sources briefed on the decisions.

A healthy Shaw, who had been dealing with back tightness, should provide different options for Cubs manager Craig Counsell as he tries to redirect a struggling team. Over the past month, the Cubs have fallen from 15 games above .500 to 34-32, draining the optimism that surrounded their fast start.

Shaw, a Gold Glove finalist as a rookie third baseman last year, was bumped into a super-utility role when the Cubs signed Alex Bregman to a five-year, $175 million contract. Thus far, Bregman’s deep struggles with runners in scoring position have led to repeated boos from the big crowds at Wrigley Field.

“I’ve been terrible,” Bregman said after Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants in 10 innings. “I need to play better. Offensively, it’s been awful.”

One of several missed chances in that frustrating game involved Bregman and Alcantara, a pinch-runner who had raced from first to third on an infield single and a throwing error in the eighth inning. With no outs, Alcantara ran halfway toward home plate when Bregman hit a soft line drive at Giants first baseman Rafael Devers, who threw the ball over to third base for the double play that stopped the rally.

“There was a bit of confusion there with (Bregman’s) bat (breaking),” Alcantara said through an interpreter. “I was just very, very aggressive. No excuse to not be able to do what I’m supposed to do there. I feel like I could have done a much better job.”

When the Cubs called up Alcantara on May 23, it was a long shot that he would continuously spend the rest of the season at the major-league level. But the hope was that the outfielder would provide a quick spark, or maybe even show glimpses of his speed and athleticism to raise his trade value prior to the Aug. 3 deadline.

As a role player who received only 10 plate appearances in 12 games, Alcántara needed to be ready for that moment.

“It’s just overaggressiveness,” Counsell said. “That (could have been) first and third with one out. We still got to score. We had other opportunities to score. So it’s a factor, obviously. It’s a play you want back. It’s a play we made a mistake on.”

These mistakes are impossible to ignore when the Cubs are 0-8-1 in their last nine series. Bregman, 32, insisted that he will power through this slump and return to his All-Star level. His long track record of success and the franchise’s enormous investment in his future will give him every opportunity to do so.

But this low-scoring offense has forced Counsell into an experimental mode with the lineup. Dansby Swanson, a Gold Glove shortstop in the middle of a seven-year, $177 million contract, was benched for most of that weekend series against the Giants. The Cubs hope that a mental reset, combined with focused work in the batting cage and Coors Field’s hitter-friendly environment, will get Swanson back in a rhythm.

Shaw’s role could also continue to evolve. A first-round pick in the 2023 draft, the 24-year-old struggled to make offensive adjustments in the first half of last season while learning an unfamiliar defensive position. He wound up posting 11 home runs and an .839 OPS after the All-Star break. Already this season, he’s played all three outfield positions and every infield spot except shortstop.

The sense of urgency is only going to increase as players try to make an impact, coaches work to find solutions and the front office considers the future.

The base-running blunder by Alcantara, a prospect acquired in the Anthony Rizzo trade with the New York Yankees at the 2021 trade deadline, is just one example of how this team is pressing.

“You want to be able to take advantage of every opportunity that you have,” Alcantara said. “I know I’m not going to play as much. Every time I go out there, I want to be able to do the best that I can. I want to be able to execute things right.”