Matt Shaw will likely want to flush the Chicago Cubs results of the 2025 Tokyo Series pretty quickly.

He might not want to ever forget the personal memories, though. The Cubs top prospect made his major-league debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers and collected his first big-league hit, a single off the glove of pitcher Jack Dreyer.

This season was always going to be a learning curve for the 23-year-old infielder. That’s something he experienced immediately in Japan. In his major league debut on Tuesday, Shaw finished 0-for-4 with a pair strikeouts and an error.

Wednesday, he bounced back and converted all three groundballs hit his way.

“I thought it was an important day defensively to kind of come back and make some plays,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters in Tokyo after the 6-3 loss. “I think the defense is an important thing for him to kind of show us and improve on. And today was a good step in that direction.”

It was no cupcake for Shaw in his first two big-league contests. In the first game, he and the Cubs went up against Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Wednesday, it was flame-throwing, rookie phenom Roki Sasaki and his devastating splitter.

But that’s life in the major leagues and that’s what he’ll continue to see the rest of the season.

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“We faced some difficult arms today,” Counsell said. “We’re going to face some difficult arms in Arizona as well. That’s the major leagues, and that’s your introduction to the major leagues is some really good arms.”

Now it’s about adjusting and proving he can hit at this level. That’s what he was touted for as a prospect. In 159 career minor league games, Shaw slashed .303/.384/.522 (.906 OPS) with 29 home runs, 99 RBI and 46 stolen bases. It’s very unlikely he’d put up those type of gaudy numbers in the majors – although the Cubs would happily take them – but if his bat can catch up quickly, it can help the team this season.

It helps to knock the debut and firsts out of the way, too.