Chris Shaw (baseball)


Christopher James Shaw is an American professional baseball left fielder in the San Francisco Giants organization. He was drafted by the Giants in the first round of the 2015 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut in 2018.

Amateur career

Shaw graduated from Lexington High School in Lexington, Massachusetts. He was drafted by the New York Mets in the 26th round of the 2012 MLB draft, but he did not sign.
Instead he enrolled at Boston College where he played college baseball, mostly as a right fielder. In his junior year he batted.319/.411/.611. In 2014, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Chatham Anglers of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Professional career

Shaw was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the first round of the 2015 MLB draft, signed for a $1.5 million signing bonus, and was assigned to the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, where as a first baseman he batted.287 with 12 home runs and 30 RBIs in 64 games. In 2016, Shaw began the season with the San Jose Giants, and was later promoted to the Richmond Flying Squirrels; in 132 games between the two teams, he posted a combined.267 batting average with 21 home runs and 85 RBIs and 125 strikeouts in 502 at bats.
He spent 2017 as a left fielder with both Richmond and the Sacramento River Cats, slashing a combined.292/.346/.525 with 24 home runs, 79 RBIs, and 132 strikeouts in 469 at bats and an.871 OPS in 125 total games between the two clubs. He began 2018 with Sacramento.
In 2018 the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats he batted.259/.308/.505 with 24 home runs and 65 RBIs and 144 strikeouts in 394 at bats. Shaw was called up to the majors for the first time on August 31, 2018, and made his debut that day. On September 3, he hit his first major league home run against the Colorado Rockies. Shaw ended up batting.185 in 22 games, with one home run and 7 runs batted in. He struck out 23 times in 62 plate appearances.
In 2019, the Giants organization kept Shaw on the 40-man roster but demoted him back to Double-A Richmond to work on his plate discipline. On May 30, 2019, after 45 games with Richmond with whom he batted.288/.368/.500 with 25 runs, 7 home runs and 24 RBIs in 160 at bats, Shaw was promoted to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats with whom he batted.298/.355/.592 with 20 home runs and 70 RBIs in 282 at bats. On September 1, 2019, Shaw was promoted to the major leagues by the Giants, where he had 18 at bats.