Discussing How Cubs May Handle Matt Shaw’s Leg Kick Moving Forward

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanNovember 12, 2024

Greg Huss of North Side Bound quipped recently that kids will grow up imitating Matt Shaw‘s leg kick, to which I replied such a move might be genetic because the kick has reportedly led to multiple pregnancies already. Those reports are probably false, but there has been some mild alarm among fans when it comes to the pronounced move and how it will translate to the bigs. After all, we’ve seen other cases in which a timing mechanism that led to huge output in the minors was quickly exposed at the highest level.

Ednel Javier Báez comes to mind there, as does young Angels shortstop Zach Neto. Drafted No. 13 overall out of Campbell University in 2022, Neto zoomed through the minors to make his MLB debut in 2023 and just finished his first full season with 23 homers and a .761 OPS. The video below shows the exaggerated move he was employing more regularly as a rookie, but he’s tweaked his approach a little as his experience grows.

“[The Angels] actually were the only team to tell me that they liked it,” Neto explained to Mark DeRosa back in June. “Whatever made me feel comfortable, that’s what they were going to let me do.”

That included moving to a toe-tap with two strikes in order to cut down on strikeouts and make the defense work a little. Starting this past season, however, Neto adjusted to pick his spots with the big kick while maintaining a little more power with his jab step. In this next video, you can see how he ditched the kick on a 1-1 pitch from Dylan Cease and was still able to put the fastball over the wall for a dinger.

I see a strong correlation between Neto’s mechanics and mindset when I look at what Shaw has done so far in the minors and the Premier12 tournament. Check out this homer from Monday night, which came on a 1-0 pitch that Shaw absolutely mashed.

Now let’s look at his homer from Sunday evening on a 1-2 offering and see if we can pick up any differences, however subtle. I know it’s not as easy to do if you’re viewing on a smaller screen, so we’ll check out some stills on the other side of the video.

The first image below is from the homer in a plus count: Note how the knee is up almost past his elbow as he coils to go HAM on this unfortunate pitch. Now check the next shot. While I may not have been perfect with the timing, I tried to grab it at the highest point of Shaw’s kick against a two-strike pitch. When you see them together, the differences are more obvious.

At the risk of assuming too much and looking foolish, something with which I’m already quite familiar anyway, I’d guess the Cubs are taking a similar tack with Shaw as the Angels did with Neto. There’s no need to fix what ain’t broken, but there’s a point at which little tweaks need to be made in order to maintain a swing that will play in the majors. Think of it like getting an oil change and tuneup rather than waiting for the engine to die.

Just as in sculpting, it’s easier to start big and work to refine rather than just hacking off big chunks and then trying to add stuff back. Some of that is comfort, some is physical maturity, and some is simply knowing how individual players’ bodies move. Take Giancarlo Stanton, for instance. No one is going to look at that dude’s swing and tell a kid to replicate it. It’s not very aesthetically pleasing if we’re being honest, but Stanton is so strong that he’s able to overcome what would be serious deficiencies for most hitters.

Back to Shaw, who maintains an internally rotated front foot in all situations that I personally find hard to look at because I just don’t like the visual. As an aerial mover — you can get more on motor preferences here — he doesn’t need to be grounded like one of his terrestrial counterparts and can use that turn as a way to preset his coil a bit. It may also cue him to land more open with his front foot, which he needs to do in order to clear his hips.

Pigeon-toed.
Landing open. (Image via USA Baseball on X)

I might need Maryland head coach Matt Swope to confirm, but I think Shaw is also an associated mover. That means he doesn’t get a ton of hip-shoulder separation and needs to land with that front foot at around 45 degrees in order to allow the front hip to really come through and produce power. So long as he can keep doing that even as the leg kick is refined, making the adjustment to higher velocity and nastier stuff should be possible.

To that end, my concern is less with the leg lift itself and more about how Shaw appears to hunch his back and get a little more internal rotation with his front shoulder. It’s hardly perceptible in the stills and could just be my overactive imagination, but even the smallest additional movements can lead to trouble when the margins between success and failure are shaved paper-thin.

Just for fun, here’s a quick video of a double Shaw hit during a practice game earlier in the month. We don’t know the count, but it’s clear he’s quieter.

My guess, and that’s all it is for now, is that the Cubs will have Shaw continue to tamp down the kick with two strikes as he prepares for the next step. Pun intended? It’s difficult to produce significant swing changes during competition, so I’d imagine there will be some little tweaks made once he’s back stateside from this tournament. I’m going to be paying close attention during spring training to see whether the big move has been reduced in plus counts and/or the smaller move is employed more frequently in even counts.

I can’t believe I just wrote 1,000 words about this, but it’s amazing how much more fun it was than covering another rumor.

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanNovember 12, 2024
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