Travis Shaw, Milwaukee Brewers
Acquiring Travis Shaw from the Boston Red Sox has worked wonders for the Brewers thus far. In his first two years with the organization, Shaw has racked up consecutive performances of 30-plus homers and 3.5-plus fWAR. He’s currently on the Injured List with a wrist injury that’s reportedly been bothering him for a while, and it shows in his numbers.
Through 154 plate appearances, Shaw has slashed just .163/.266/.281 with four home runs and eight RBI. That’s led to a paltry 46 wRC+ and -0.7 fWAR. His injury and placement on the sidelines has led Milwaukee to promote top prospect Keston Hiura. If he hits the ground running in the big leagues, who knows what Shaw’s role will be once he’s healthy enough to return.
Virtually all of Shaw’s homers have come via fly balls since joining the Brewers. He owned a 390 wRC+ for this batted-ball event last season, but that number is down at 57 right now. One would imagine his quality of contact progression is an issue. Shaw’s soft-hit rate on fly balls has gone from 14.6% to 20.6% to 25.6% over the past three seasons, while his hard-hit rate has gone from 45.0% to 40.0% to 33.3% during the same time period.
About Matt Musico
Matt Musico currently manages Chin Music Baseball and contributes to The Sports Daily. His past work has been featured at numberFire, Yahoo! Sports and Bleacher Report. He’s also written a book and created an online class about how to get started as a sports blogger. Check those out and more helpful tips on sports blogging at his website.
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