Confident Travis Shaw Preparing To Be Opening Day Starter
BOSTON (CBS) -- Travis Shaw may not have a starting spot on Boston's depth chart as the team prepares for the 2016 season, but the 25-year-old is brimming with confidence that he'll be on the Red Sox' Opening Day roster.
Being able to play three positions will certainly help his cause come April 4.
Shaw turned some heads at the end of last season, clubbing 13 homers while driving in 36 runs -- all after August 1. The lefty's swing seems tailor-made for Fenway Park, with eight of his blasts and eight of his 10 doubles coming in Boston, and there's little doubt he'd add a few more dents in the Green Monster if given the opportunity.
But getting that opportunity remains the problem at the moment. With Hanley Ramirez making the transition to first base, it leaves Shaw a man without a position (or without one until the Hanley experiment goes south). But that uncertainty has not changed his approach down in Fort Myers, Florida.
"I'm going to prepare to be a starter. That's the only way I know how to prepare," Shaw told WBZ-TV's Dan Roche. "Let the chips fall as they may, but I'll be ready for Opening Day."
To increase those chances or making the squad (and in a starting role), Shaw is putting in work at third base and in left field this spring. He hopes to be as comfortable at those two new positions as he is at first by the end of Spring Training, but knows it will take a lot of grounders and fly balls. He's more than willing to put in that work, joking that he's becoming Brock Holt 2.0.
Shaw's success in the closing months of the 2015 season was one of the bright spots among Boston's young players. It left him feeling pretty darn good about himself and his swing heading into this spring, and he's doing everything he can to get better.
"It was huge for my confidence, just proving you can play at that level. Hitting in the middle of the lineup for two months and protecting [David Ortiz] down the stretch, that was huge for me," he said. "I learned a lot from [Ortiz] and I'm really excited for this year."
At the moment, Shaw is serving as a trio of backup plans for Boston. Should Ramirez falter at his second new position in as many years, Shaw will be there to take over at first. If Dave Dombrowski and Co. get sick of all 255 (plus)-pounds of Pablo Sandoval and can work out a trade, Shaw will be ready for third. And if Rusney Castillo still can't live up to all the hype (or Jackie Bradley Jr. struggles, moving Castillo to center), Shaw will give it a try in left.
He's willing to do it all in order to earn a starting job for the 2016 Boston Red Sox.
"Once you get that taste of success you want to continue to go off of that. I'm not going to settle, I'm going to keep going," he said. "This could be a special year for the Red Sox... There is a realistic expectation for a World Series, so I definitely want to be a part of that."