TRAVIS SHAW: PROSPECT?

[Angels]

1B Travis Shaw, who I recently plucked off the free agent scrap heap, may finally be playing his way into actual prospect status. After a great showing in the Arizona Fall League, he’s now batting .307/.401/.548 with 10 homers at AA. What I’m most excited about is that he’s struck out only 22 times in 193 plate appearances, while walking 25 times.

I’m not the only one who’s noticed that. Check out this recent write-up on Shaw from a former critic:

“I've taken serious issue with Travis Shaw’s approach in the past, as he’s been, more often than not, more passive than patient, with a two-strike approach that mostly involved watching the pitch go by in the hopes a walk was in his future. Too often, it was a strikeout looking instead, and his tendency to let pitches go by also resulted in too many plate appearances where he wasn’t running things, and was instead at the mercy of his opposition. This led to weak contact, which led to lines with plenty of walks and power but no batting average to back them up.

“That’s what makes his recent surge so fascinating. He’s still drawing walks, but he’s cut down on the strikeouts significantly: Shaw punched out 22 percent of the time in 2013, and this year so far is at 9 percent. He’s looked more aggressive at the plate, willing to swing (and drive) pitches that make their way into the strike zone, rather than trying to squeeze every plate appearance for every pitch it’s worth -- his BABIP is about 30 points higher at the moment because of it, and his ISO has climbed as well. There’s a balance between discipline and passiveness, and Shaw seems to have finally begun to lean towards the former.”

I want to see him keep this up, but his progress has been very encouraging.