Major League Baseball managers and executives warn against reading too much into small sample sizes, but it’s hard to find a sample smaller than the one slugger Chris Shaw has had at the major league level.
A 2015 first round draft pick of the San Francisco Giants, Shaw has 11 hits in 72 at-bats at the major league level and just 20 plate appearances since the start of the 2019 season.
The left-handed power-hitter has an impressive minor league track record and hit at least 20 home runs in four straight minor league seasons leading into 2020, but Shaw was one of the first Giants players optioned during spring training and wasn’t included in the team’s initial 60-man summer player pool.
Shaw’s inability to make consistent contact sent him tumbling down the depth chart after the Giants fired former general manager Bobby Evans and hired president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi in 2018, but Zaidi is the type of executive who values each and every 40-man roster spot.
It’s unlike Zaidi to keep a player with major league experience on the 40-man roster who isn’t in a position to contribute to a team’s success, so it came as a surprise when the Giants brought 8-to-10 of their top prospects to camp this summer and didn’t invite Shaw.
The Giants finally announced Friday that Shaw and right-handed reliever Melvin Adon –another member of the 40-man roster who wasn’t a participant in summer camp– were being added to the team’s player pool with a month remaining in the regular season.
The timing of the move initially raised eyebrows because a player has to be added to a team’s 60-man pool to be included in a trade, but when asked about the additions of Shaw and Adon on Friday, manager Gabe Kapler indicated the Giants honestly wanted to see how each player has progressed over the last several months.
“Left-handed bats are valuable right now and certainly Chris has a history of hitting homers and I know how hard he’s been working on his swing recently,” Kapler said. “He’s actually been working really hard during this down time.”
It’s possible no player on the Giants’ 40-man roster would benefit from a change of scenery as much as Shaw, but it would be surprising to see the club give up on a former first round pick before giving him a more consistent chance to prove himself at the major league level. Shaw’s 63 career home runs at Triple-A Sacramento and .947 OPS with the River Cats during the 2019 season suggest he’s ready for an extended look in the big leagues, but the Giants have been concerned in the past that holes in Shaw’s swing might be exposed.
Shaw went 1-for-18 with eight strikeouts in a brief stint with the club last September, but given the team’s desire to add more power to its lineup against right-handed pitchers, it seems as if Shaw would have been an obvious candidate to open the summer in a competition for a roster spot.
Kapler said the Giants instead had to have a difficult conversation with the Boston College product and tell him to work on his game at home in Massachusetts.
“It’s been tough,” Kapler said. “I know that he’s definitely wanted to be at our alternate site and unfortunately there’s a limited number of players that can be there at any given time. Certainly that’s not easy for a player to hear that he’s not going to be included in that mix, but since that time he’s been working on his swing and he actually shared that he’s been working extraordinarily hard on his overall athleticism.”
The Giants challenged Shaw to become more agile so he could improve his range in the outfield and flexibility at first base, but it’s unclear what the future holds for him in San Francisco. It’s possible his addition to the player pool was only to ensure he could be included in a trade before the August 31 deadline, but it’s also within reason to think Shaw has the ability to help the major league club if it’s looking for another power bat.
Regardless of what happens in the time Shaw spends at the alternate camp, it can’t be easy for the 26-year-old to be surrounded by a slew of recent first round draft picks knowing those are the prospects the Giants now see as their future core.
Shaw was once viewed by Giants executives in that light, and it’s possible a breakthrough at the major league level is still on the horizon. Whether it comes in San Francisco or elsewhere remains to be seen.
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