Shaw’s shot highlight of tough loss
DENVER — A fan who pores over minor-league boxscores and stat sheets would not have gotten a complete picture of why the Giants remained enamored of a prospect who has struck out 442 times in 1,543 at-bats.
The view comes into highdefinition focus when you witness what happens to a baseball when 24-year-old Chris Shaw truly gets ahold of one, like he did at Coors Field on Monday.
Shaw’s first big-league hit turned into the Giants’ longest home run in three seasons, a 468-foot Saturn 5 launch into the second deck at Coors Field that gave the Giants a fleeting lead in the eighth inning before the Rockies scored twice off Tony Watson in the bottom half to win 9-8.
After the Dodgers lost to the
Mets on Monday night, Colorado moved into sole possession of first place in the NL West. Meanwhile, the Giants fell for the 16th time in their past 18 games at Coors.
For a lame-duck team in September, losses are more annoying than meaningful. Looking at the future takes priority.
The Giants got a promising glimpse of Steven Duggar before his season-ending shoulder injury last week. Catcher Aramis Garcia has had a couple of big hits.
But if Shaw produces, he will provide the Giants something they desperately lack: pure power, which was evident throughout his Triple-A season. Shaw hit 24 homers. He also struck out 144 times in 394 at-bats.
That’s baseball in 2018, isn’t it?
“That’s what he’s got, power,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He will swing and miss a lot, but then he’ll run into a ball. That’s his game. That’s what is needed here.”
Shaw had seven big-league plate appearances before he pinch-hit in a game that Alen Hanson had just tied with his own pinch homer. Measured against Shaw’s second-deck blast, Hanson's 413-footer to right was a chip shot.
Shaw struck out in five of those seven plate appearances. He also hit two flyballs, one a sacrifice fly.
Any start like that conjures memories of Willie Mays going hitless in his first 12 big-league at-bats and saying he wanted to go home.
Shaw did not despair like that. Bochy calmed him when he arrived Friday by saying, “Don’t go out there thinking this is the last time you’re going to play.”
“I was facing Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard right up from Triple-A,” Shaw said. “I took it with a grain of salt.”
The Giants have gotten countless phone calls from other teams asking for Shaw since they drafted him out of Boston College with their second pick in 2015, No. 31 overall.
The Giants have not been shy about dealing first-round draftees for immediate help, but they could not walk away from Shaw, because how many hitters like him do they ever develop? Not many have the strength that 43,256 fans saw when the left-handed hitter blasted a hanging slider from Seunghwan Oh farther than any Giants batter had hit a ball since Brandon Belt’s 475-foot upper-deck blow at Coors in 2015.
“It was incredible,” Shaw said. “That’s the kind of thing you dream about, your first knock being a homer, and a late homer that gives you a lead. It’s surreal.”
For now, Shaw is starting against right-handers. The Rockies had lefty Tyler Anderson on the mound Monday, so Shaw sat. He did not hit lefties well in Triple-A. Bochy is trying to ease him into the majors and said Shaw will see some lefties later.
“I figured that was going to be the game plan going forward, getting my feet wet,” Shaw said. “I’m not in position to have any sort of expectations as far as playing time.”
On Monday, Shaw gave Bochy 468 reasons to give him as much playing time as possible.