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MiLB Player Profile: Josh Shaw

It may be a little too early to tell, but so far, the Cardinals 2018 draft picks have more than impressed in the lower parts of the minor league system. Most of these draft picks this season began in places like the Gulf Coast League Cardinals, the Johnson City Cardinals (rookie league), or the State College Spikes (Low A short season). When the games for these short-season teams come to a close, the season also ends for most of these players. This year, there were a few exceptions. The Cardinals decided that a select few in the lower minors weren’t quite done with 2018 yet, and one of these players was Josh Shaw.

A little about the subject of this week’s Player Profile: Joshua Jacob Thomas Shaw was born on November 30, 1996 in Wayne, New Jersey. In high school, Josh was named the Team Captain in his senior year for the Don Bosco Prep Ironmen, lettered in all four years of high school baseball, and won the Bergen County Tournament MVP twice (redstormsports.com). Josh attended St. John’s University in New York for three years until he was drafted in the 19th round by the Cardinals this season. As a freshman, Shaw was named BIG EAST Freshman of the Year and was named to the Second Team All-BIG EAST. As a sophomore, he was named to the First Team All-BIG EAST, and likely would have been given this honor again if he hadn’t been drafted in 2018. Before the draft, Shaw was hitting .316/.424/.363 for the Red Storm, and also hit 2 home runs and tallied 46 RBIs.

After the Cardinals drafted Shaw and he signed with the team, he was assigned to the GCL Cardinals for the 2018 season. He did well with GCL, slashing .266/.321/.362 with a .683 OPS to go along with 2 home runs and 30 RBI. What was intriguing about Shaw, however, was not his batting average or his ability to hit home runs. Shaw walked as many times as he struck out (14), which is something that often occurs in college baseball, but not at the major league level. When GCL’s season ended yesterday as the lost to the GCL Tigers West in the championship series, the Cardinals decided that they wanted to see more of Shaw, even though his team’s season had just came to a close. Shaw was promoted to High A Palm Beach, which is quite impressive as he jumped 3 levels of the minor league system. Granted, the season also ended for Johnson City and State College yesterday too, so the only other affiliate the Cardinals could have promoted Shaw to was Low A Peoria. However, the promotion is still huge, especially since the Palm Beach Cardinals are getting ready to head to the playoffs, a run that will be a great learning experience for the 2018 19th round pick.