Shaffer’s new swing boosts career
Richie Shaffer went into the offseason having made his majorleague debut, but he was daring enough to restructure his swing from top to bottom like a mad scientist trying to create a bigger and better monster.
There was a lot more going on in his head in a span of five weeks in which he was traded from Tampa Bay to Seattle, released, then picked up by Philadelphia and released, and then picked up by Cincinnati before being claimed by the Cleveland Indians.
This mad scientist will get a happy ending in 2017.
In the seventh inning Monday night, Shaffer hit a two-run homer that sounded like a gunshot, but the Clippers lost to the Toledo Mud Hens 6-4 in front of a Dimea-Dog Night crowd of 10,100 at Huntington Park.
With seven games remaining in the regular season, Shaffer already has set career highs for home runs with 29 and RBI with 87. Before the game, his on-base percentage was a healthy .347, and his OPS was .817.
Perhaps the mostrevealing statistic is that Shaffer is hitting .390 when he makes contact.
“I made some changes with my swing, and they are working out,” the 26-year-old said. “I’m giving myself the best opportunity to hit at all times. When I do things correctly, I’m getting results. I do get into ruts by getting out of rhythm, but I know I’m just scratching the surface with this approach. I forgot about everything I knew about hitting.”
Shaffer hit .250 in 48 at-bats in 20 games for the Rays last season. He was the 25th player chosen in the first round of the 2009 draft out of Clemson.
The Clippers have undergone massive roster changes, but Shaffer has been a constant since Opening Day. It has been an about-face from last season, when he batted .227 with 11 homers and 48 RBI in 119 games for Durham.
“I’ve hit the ball the other way better than I have in my career,” said Shaffer, a right-handed batter. “I’ve driven in more runners than ever before. I say, ‘Man, you are just learning this, so what is going to happen when you get more experience with this?’ There is a lot of potential.”
The Clippers (68-67) are headed toward missing the playoffs for the first time since 2013, but Shaffer has been essential in helping the club remain in contention.
He thinks organizations have to look at him differently.
“I thought I was being forgotten, and I felt I needed to let everyone know that this is the type of player I can be,” he said. “Once you get a perception in baseball, it can stick with you. What I’ve done is stuck with a plan, and that was nervewracking going into the season. I was with a new organization.”
Linebacker Vontaze Burfict missed the Cincinnati Bengals’ first three games last season because of his hit to Antonio Brown’s head in a January 2016 playoff game. He will miss the first five this season thanks to another rattling hit, this time during an exhibition game.
The NFL has suspended the Bengals’ defensive leader for leveling a Chiefs running back this month in violation of its player-safety rules. It was the latest in Burfict’s history of egregious hits that have drawn fines and suspensions.
Burfict hit running back Anthony Sherman in the chest during a pass play in which Sherman was not the intended receiver, knocking him to the ground. The NFL has been cracking down on such hits as part of its emphasis on player safety.
Burfict was suspended for his hit to Brown’s head on an incomplete pass during a first-round playoff game. The resulting personal foul moved the Steelers into field-goal range in the closing seconds for an 18-16 victory at Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium.
The Bengals were off on Monday after returning from an exhibition game at Washington. They released a statement defending Burfict in the face of his latest punishment.
“The film shows that the hit was legal, that Vontaze engaged his opponent from the front, and that contact was shoulder-tochest,” the statement said.
The Bengals will open the season with Burfict and cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones suspended. The league suspended Jones for one game for his latest arrest and misdemeanor conviction in the offseason.
Ex-Buckeye acquitted
Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Adolphus Washington has been acquitted of a weapons charge by a judge in Cincinnati.
The ruling that found Washington not guilty came Monday after a nonjury trial in Hamilton County Municipal Court. The 24-year-old Cincinnati native, who played at Ohio State, was arrested in July on a charge of improperly carrying a concealed weapon outside a water park in Sharonville.
Washington still could face NFL discipline.
Jets name McCown starter
Josh McCown will start at quarterback in the New York Jets’ regular-season opener at Buffalo, beating out Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty.
Coach Todd Bowles announced his decision Monday, ending a strange training-camp competition in which his backups played most of the time in exhibition games.
McCown, 38, was the assumed starter the moment he signed a one-year, $6 million deal in March, and that never changed despite his having appeared in just one series in an exhibition game.
Wrapping up
Matthew Stafford has agreed to a fiveyear, $135 million contract extension with the Detroit Lions, The Associated Press reported. Stafford was entering the last season of a three-year, $53 million contract. … The Baltimore Ravens have given coach John Harbaugh a contract extension, even though the team has missed the playoffs in three of the past four years. He started this season with a contract that stretched through 2018. The Ravens did not disclose the length of the new deal.