Brimfield's Matt Shaw selected by Chicago Cubs with the 13th overall pick in the MLB Draft
With the 13th pick, the @Cubs select @TerpsBaseball shortstop Matt Shaw, No. 16 on the Top 250 Draft Prospects list.
Watch live: https://t.co/1s1j9XMnG5 pic.twitter.com/quDtgYFhp3— MLB Draft (@MLBDraft) July 10, 2023
Heading into the Major League Baseball Draft, former Worcester Academy star Matt Shaw of Brimfield had a feeling the Chicago Cubs might be the team to take him.
He was exactly right.
The Cubs selected Shaw, who is coming off a record-setting and All-America junior season at the University of Maryland, with the No. 13 overall pick, making him the highest draft pick in Maryland history.
“I thought Chicago might be my team,” Shaw said Sunday night in a phone interview amid a celebration with 60 family members and friends at his Brimfield home, “so I’m really happy.”
More: Feeling the MLB Draft: Former Worcester Academy star Matt Shaw awaits possible 1st-round selection
Shaw, the 2023 Big Ten Player of the Year and the Brooks Wallace Award winner as the nation’s top shortstop, is the first Maryland player selected in the first round since 2007 and the sixth first-round pick in program history.
“It’s an awesome night,” Shaw said, “fantastic.”
Shaw, who was a standout at Worcester Academy, had three outstanding seasons at Maryland. He made an immediate impact with the Terrapins, starting 45 games as a freshman and leading the team in batting average (.332). He was a first-team All-Big Ten selection last year, the 2022 Cape Cod Baseball League Player of the Year while with the Bourne Braves, and he was sensational this season at Maryland as he continued his surge as a first-round prospect.
MLB Pipeline ranked Shaw 16th overall in the 2023 draft class while Baseball America had him 17th.
This season at Maryland, Shaw, who can also play second, third and the outfield, batted .341, with 90 hits, 24 home runs and 69 RBIs. With 53 career homers, he set the Maryland all-time record.
“He’s a sure-fire big leaguer in my opinion,” Maryland coach Matt Swope said this week on “Hear the Turtle,” the official podcast of Maryland athletics. “He’s one of the most advanced players I’ve ever seen coaching at this level in his age.”
John Hetrick, the No. 17 overall pick in 1967 by the Detroit Tigers, was Maryland’s previous highest selection.
Shaw attended Wilbraham & Monson from eighth grade through his sophomore year before transferring to Worcester Academy, where he was the MVP of the soccer team his senior season while leading the Hilltoppers to the New England Prep School Athletic Conference Class A championship.
As a junior, Shaw helped Worcester Academy reach the semifinals of the Central New England Prep School Baseball Tournament.
In 2020 and 2021, Shaw played for the Worcester Bravehearts of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. He is the first former Bravehearts player selected in the first round of the MLB draft and the 22nd overall.
—Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Brimfield's Shaw selected by Cubs with the 13th pick in the MLB Draft
