Instead of acquiring a third baseman at the trade deadline, Jed Hoyer and the Cubs continued to show faith in Matt Shaw. What looked like a big risk at the time — Shaw had an 82 wRC+ with six homers and 0.5 fWAR at the end of July — has paid off in a big way since. Through 18 games in August, the rookie leads the team with a 1.023 OPS, five home runs, 10 runs scored, a 172 wRC+, and 0.6 fWAR.
For the sake of reference, the next-closest OPS on the team this month is the .