Milwaukee Brewers: Why Travis Shaw is this year’s MVP

Milwaukee Brewers third baseman Travis Shaw has had a phenomenal season for a team that is on the verge of getting into the playoffs.

After being traded from Boston in the offseason, he has certainly proved to be a valuable everyday player for the Milwaukee Brewers. Which the Red Sox did not view him as.

With a very young, inexperienced, and shaky Brewers lineup, it is indescribable how valuable a guy like Shaw is to this team. To be able to put a reliable and productive bat in the cleanup spot everyday is huge for any team. Especially this year’s team.

Offensively, Shaw leads the Brewers offense in batting average, hits, doubles, home runs, and total bases. Those numbers speak for themselves. But it doesn’t tell the whole story on how valuable he is as a player.

Defensively, Shaw has been a wall over at third base.  That was highlighted by  a nice 69 game errorless streak spanning from April to late July. He has just nine errors overall on the season, and specializes in the balls hit really hard right at him. Balls that a third baseman not to his defensive level would simply let go past him into left field.

The thing that stands out about Shaw is how consistent he has been compared to the other young Brewer hitters. Other than a little rough patch recently in August he has been a consistently productive hitter and defender all season. However, he is on the rise as of late.

Guys like Eric Thames, Ryan Braun, Domingo Santana and Orlando Arcia have all been productive hitters for the Brewers this season. However, none of them have shown the ability to be as consistent as Shaw this season. All have very good stretches, but they also get hit by the occasional week of 0-for’s and errors. Or even sitting with injuries.

Shaw has missed a few games here and there for a few reasons, one was the situation with his newborn daughter, which nobody can complain about. Then there were mostly precautionary days off for smaller injuries. He never had an extended absence that really hurt the team.

The Milwaukee Brewers third baseman has been an amazing acquisition for the team.  And he is Milwaukee’s most valuable player in 2017.

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Offensively and defensively Shaw has been a guy the Brewers can lean on, and this all in a season where this team surprisingly has a chance to go to the postseason. Shaw will look to continue his success over the final two weeks of the regular season, and hopefully into October.