Washington C.H. native Travis Shaw got the first three hits of his Major League Baseball career Tuesday in a 4-3 win by the Boston Red Sox over the Miami Marlins at Fenway Park.
Shaw, a 2008 Washington High School graduate, was just called back to the Red Sox on Tuesday after appearing in six games and going 0 for 9.
Shaw started Tuesday at first base for Boston and had three singles in his first three at-bats. He scored a run in Boston’s three-run seventh inning and finished the game going 3 for 4.
“It’s only been nine [at-bats], but stretched over a couple of months, I was ready to get that first one out of the way,” the 25-year-old Shaw told ESPN’s Scott Barboza. “So it’s a big relief, you can stop waiting for it.”
The Record-Herald spoke with Travis’ father, former Major League pitcher Jeff Shaw, who lives in Washington C.H.
“They’re not going to hand him (a starting job),” Shaw said. “He’s going to have to earn it.”
The Red Sox are in last place in the American League East Division, but are only five games behind the first-place New York Yankees. Boston hosts the Yankees beginning Friday for a three-game series.
Shaw collected the first three hits of his career on his dad’s 49th birthday.
“Ever since Travis was 16 years old, he’s worked extremely hard for this,” Shaw said. “All the traveling teams he’s played on. He played on a traveling team out of Dayton (Greenville Technology Incorporated was the name of the team). He traveled with them for a couple of years.”
Out of the millions of people to have ever played the game of baseball, Shaw has become the 18,472nd player in Major League Baseball history, according to the web site Baseball-Reference.com.
Shaw was drafted by the Red Sox in 2008, but opted to attend and play baseball for Kent State University.
He was drafted again the by Red Sox in 2011 and began his professional career.
In 2011, Shaw played for the Lowell Spinners of the New York-Pennsylvania League and the Greenville Drive in the South Atlantic League.
He began the 2012 season with the Salem Red Sox of the Carolina League and was promoted to the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs of the Eastern League.
In 2013, Shaw played for the Sea Dogs and then moved up to the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox.
“Last night was a culmination of all that hard work that paid off for him,” Shaw said. “That broke the ice, Travis getting those three hits.”
The Shaws were watching Travis’ game Tuesday night.
“Julie (Travis’ mom), Molli, Griffin (Travis’ sister and brother) and I were sitting at the house watching the game and we were going crazy,” Shaw said. “We were jumping up and down; it was awesome. He couldn’t have given me a better birthday present in the world than getting his first three hits and we got to see it on t.v.”
“He’s been one of the biggest hitting coaches I’ve had in my life,” Shaw said of his father. “He’s seen me grow up, he’s seen my swing evolve. Obviously, he was a pitcher, so he sees a different side of it, but he’s been one of the biggest influences in my baseball career.
“It’s a great birthday present for [my dad], hopefully,” Shaw told ESPN. “This will be one for him to remember and it’ll be something that I definitely remember.”
Shaw is the grandson of Harry and Judy Shaw and Jean and the late Gene Wissinger, all of Washington C.H.
The Boston Red Sox will end the regular season with a three-game series in Cleveland against the Indians on Oct. 2, 3 and 4.
Veteran slugger David ‘Big Papi’ Ortiz, was in the starting lineup at first base Wednesday night for the Red Sox.
Editor’s note: Scott Barboza of ESPN.com contributed comments from Travis Shaw.
