The Mariners signed veteran right-handed reliever Bryan Shaw to a minor league deal yesterday. The team never formally announced it, but Shaw’s signing appears on their transaction log at MLB.com and the righty pitched in last night’s game for Triple-A Tacoma.
Shaw’s return to the Mariners organization — he also pitched for Seattle in 2020 — didn’t go particularly well. He retired only one of the five batters he faced, allowing a hit and three walks (one intentional) to the others. The 37-year-old right-hander had previously yielded five earned runs in 1 2/3 innings for the Reds’ top affiliate in Louisville before being cut loose.
Shaw pitched only four big league innings last year, his fewest single-season total since making his MLB debut with the Diamondbacks in 2011. It’s been several years since his peak as an iron man in Cleveland’s bullpen, but the well-traveled Shaw was an effective middle reliever as recently as 2023 with the White Sox. He tossed 45 2/3 innings that year and recorded a respectable 4.14 ERA with a 21.1% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate.
From 2013-17, Shaw tied lefty Tony Watson for the MLB lead among relievers at 358 2/3 innings. Shaw’s 378 total appearances during that time were by far the most in MLB. He wasn’t just a rubber arm, either; in those 358 2/3 innings, Shaw logged a 3.11 ERA and ranked third among all relievers with 110 holds (in addition to nine rogue saves). He’s had more shaky seasons than good ones in the time since that peak run. It seems fair to presume that Shaw’s nearly unrivaled workload took some toll on his arm, but it’s worth noting that he still has only one appearance on the MLB injured list in his entire career: a three-week stint due to a calf strain with the Rockies in 2018.