BSN Exclusive: "Everything is in the right place" for Rockies reliever Bryan Shaw

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Nobody had a worse all-around 2018 season for the Colorado Rockies than relief pitcher Bryan Shaw.

And he knows it.

After a half-decade in Cleveland consistently managing to be one of the most reliable relievers in the game, he signed in Colorado for three years and $27 million only to have the worst season of his career by far.

His ERA ballooned out to 5.93, nearly double his norm, he had a number of pronounced blowups that included some ugly defensive plays off the mound, and he even failed to make the postseason roster.

So the 31-year-old went about trying to solve the problem as soon as the season officially ended.

I went to Driveline at the end of the year,” he told BSN Denver. “I did some stuff in spring training early in the year, did some stuff during the offseason to try and remedy some of those issues I had last year. I think that we did that through all the different little methods and that’s showing right now. I think that we’re in the good spot to be in and we’re ready to go.”

Shaw didn’t start off this spring as a whole new man, admitting that there was still some tinkering going on with his delivery.

“We looked at mechanics. We looked at previous years’ stuff and really tried to get back to how I was and the things I was doing and the mindset of those previous years of when I was pitching well and getting back to that. I feel comfortable. I feel really good. Mechanically, everything is right in line. Timing is good. Body feels good. Arms feels good. Everything is just in the right place right now.

One potential reason, or some might say excuse, that Shaw is unwilling to accept is the narrative that Coors Field had anything to do with his struggles from a year ago.

“Everything that happened last year – the hits I gave up, the homers I gave up – everything that happened had nothing to do with Coors Field. The hits I gave up, the homers, the walks, it was all going to happen regardless of the stadium I was at. It just gets talked about because of Coors Field, but the hits were still going to be hits in any park, the homers were still going to be homers and the walks would have been walks anywhere because it’s ball outside the zone. Everything that happened would have been the same in any park.”

His experience has often made him a source of information for the younger pitchers on the staff, but that is a two-way street, he says.

“We’ve got about half and half. Maybe just under that. The younger guys listen to the older guys. They learn from us and talk to us and we talk to them to see what their thoughts are on different things. It’s a good learning experience for both sides.”

Looking forward, Shaw is more interested in how he can help fortify a bullpen that has all the makings to be an incredibly good one.

“We’re very good,” he says. “We’ve got a lot of young guys coming up and showed themselves last year. We’ve got a good group of veteran guys who have been here and have done it for a long period of time. We’ve meshed well together. All of us know we’ve got each other’s backs. We know if one guy struggles a little bit, the next guy is going to pick him up. So on and so forth down the line until the game is over. Hopefully, we continue to do what we all know we can do and we know where we want to be.”