Reinvented Bryan Shaw ready to throw for Indians

CLEVELAND — It had been a while since Bryan Shaw felt the pressure of having to make a team, but that was the situation the established veteran relief pitcher faced this spring with the Indians. In the end, the quirky right-hander did enough to earn a spot on the roster and has returned to Cleveland, where he spent the best years of his career. "It's funny. Your priorities change when you become a dad," said Shaw, who with wife Kristen recently welcomed their first child, a son named August. "The first thought (when I made the team) was, 'Ooooh, I have health insurance again.' Stuff like that pops in there. It was awesome. "The last time, I think in 2011 when I got called up, and when I got traded over here in '13, was I think the last two times they told me, quote, 'you made the team.' It was nice. It's been a while since I had to do that, but it's nice." Shaw didn't just make the team when he arrived in Cleveland along with Trevor Bauer in a three-team trade prior to the 2013 season, he led the American League in appearances twice during his five-year tenure. Shaw made at least 74 appearances in each of his five seasons, becoming the only reliever in franchise history to accomplish as much. The extra workload was not only good for the Indians, it was good for Shaw, who in these days of starting pitchers on pitch counts, believes the more he throws, the better. "I know everybody's different, but I like throwing. I like throwing a lot," he said. "I like throwing multiple times a week, obviously. I'll get in the game whenever they call my name. I'm in whenever they call." But at 33, Shaw also realizes he is getting older. He hasn't pitched well since leaving Cleveland, posting a 5.93 ERA and a 5.38 ERA in consecutive years for the Rockies from 2018-19 before getting released. He signed a free agent contract with Seattle last year, but allowed 12 runs on 13 hits and six walks in six games and spent most of season at the Mariners' alternate site. Age and ineffective performances led to some reflection and adjustments. "I worked this offseason and the alternate site last year with Seattle and really tried to do some different things to improve my game and improve what I can do and what I can bring to a team," Shaw said. "And I think I accomplished that and brought it over here. It's worked out for the better and it should continue. "We changed a few things, mechanically, we changed some stuff. Obviously, getting older, your body moves differently and different parts of your body slow down. So, we did some different throwing stuff, some different weight training stuff, to kind of try and compensate for getting older and trying to improve stuff. Because, essentially, I haven't really changed an offseason program since I got to the big leagues nine years ago, 10 years ago, whatever it was. "So it was kind of time to actually adapt and change with the times and go about some things a little bit differently. Obviously it's worked out for the best. I feel great. We're in a good spot." Shaw has joined a young Cleveland bullpen, many of the pitchers throwing way harder than him. Along with fellow veterans Oliver Perez and Nick Wittgren, he is confident he'll be able to fit in. "We got a lot of big arms," Shaw said. "We joked early on in camp, we had five, six, seven guys that are throwing 97 mph-plus consistently every game, every time they go out there. We joked, 'you gotta throw 98 (mph) to make the team.' We got guys that don't throw as hard but are obviously really good. It's not always about velo, but that's always fun to watch on the scoreboard when it pops up 100 (mph) and stuff like that. "We got a lot of younger guys, obviously. It reminds me of my first couple years here, coming up with the group that we had. They remind me a lot of that, so we'll see what happens." Though he won't be expected to pitch as much as he used to for the Indians, Shaw believes the adjustments he's made can keep him going past this year. He joked of reaching a lofty goal before calling his career quits. "I think the changes that we made are very repeatable changes," Shaw said. "The changes we made to the pitches and to the arsenal and the way we go about attacking guys, they're very repeatable, very easy to keep doing. So hopefully it will just be able to flow from here on forward. "1,252 is a record for major league baseball for pitchers, most games pitched in a career. I think I'm at like 619 or something like that, so I've got just a little ways to go … do the same thing, just show up, throw 75, 80 games a year for the next nine years or so years and call it a day." Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @CAwesomeheimer on Twitter.