Sports stats



FL River City Rascals

Player Spotlight- Gabriel Shaw

April 14, 2014 - Frontier League (FL)
River City Rascals News Release


In 2013, Gabriel Shaw solidified the ninth inning for the Rascals' bullpen nailing down 26 saves, good enough for second in the Frontier League and two away from tying the league record. The veteran right-handed reliever took the closer's role for the first time in his career, and ran away with it.

Shaw spent four years at the University of Louisville where he obtained a degree in finance and played four phenomenal seasons for the Cardinals. During his four years playing at Louisville, Gabriel walked only 30 batters and maintained a 4:1 K/BB ratio. Aside from his 11 saves and brief stint as a starter, he raked up more appearances than any other pitcher in Louisville history with 104.

In addition to Shaw's great numbers on the mound, the team itself had loads of success, ranking in the top twenty, nationally, in 2009. When reminiscing about his time dawning Cardinals' red, Gabriel says that, "since we were at such a storied baseball school, we always had a target on our backs. There was never an easy game, because every other team's goal was to beat us to prove their own worthiness regardless of our record at the time. Aside from that though we were always fortunate to have great competition, sponsors, fans, and an overall atmosphere at the park. The best time of year, though, was when basketball season ended," he jokes, "because that's when the fans would actually start caring about baseball!"

There were countless professionals on his Louisville squads, but one pitcher really stood out to Gabriel during his college tenure. B.J. Rosenberg, a current Major Leaguer, pitched for the Cardinals in 2008, Shaw's freshman year. He recalls that, "B.J. always threw hard and had an amazing slider, but when he started, he generally got hit hard. They moved him to the bullpen after a few starts, and that's when his true talent began to show. Not only did he produce on the mound, but he also had an impeccable work ethic; I really look back at the model he set for me and the other guys. Everyday I told myself that if I worked as hard as B.J., it would all work out."

Another future professional, and River City teammate was first-baseman Phil Wunderlich. The 2013 Rascals' first-baseman played alongside Shaw for four seasons at Louisville. Believe it or not, the two were actually suite mates their first year on the team. "Getting to play with someone you haven't seen is a while is one of the coolest feelings," Gabriel noted when talking about Phil and Rascals pitcher Nick Kennedy who played against the two during his time at the University of Kentucky. The friendships made in baseball seem to last a lifetime.

Now back to Gabriel's time in River City. As a first time closer last season he recorded 26 saves, which sort of surprised him based on his collegiate closing experience: "I had closed a little bit in college and then it didn't really work out because I hadn't developed a second off-speed pitch." Well Shaw clearly worked out his issues enough to be ranked as the second best closer in the Frontier League in 2013. He ultimately attributes this change to his new in-game focus from the bullpen. Last season Gabriel started keeping a chart during the game out in the bullpen tracking hitter tendencies and results. Not only did it keep him mentally involved in the game, but it also provided priceless information for late in the contest when he came in to face clutch situations. Other relievers in the pen even starting helping out with the chart, and everyone seemed to benefit from it.

For a guy who has had so much success at the professional level, he has known nowhere else besides the Frontier League. After his collegiate career came to an end, Shaw had decided that he wasn't going to pursue professional baseball for personal reasons until one day, when his phone rang. A friend of his called saying, "you can't give up yet! I got you a tryout for the Southern Illinois Miners tomorrow." Sadly there was no physical way for him to get all the way to Southern Illinois overnight so the tryout was rescheduled a couple of days later. Not having thrown in quite some time, he arrived at the ballpark and threw for the pitching coach in the pen. "I thought I threw pretty well for someone who hadn't thrown in a while." Afterwards the pitching coach told him that he'd let him know in a few days because he had to talk to the head coach first before making a decision. Shaw took this to mean that they weren't interested so he started heading out to his car in the parking lot. Right before he was about to pull off, the pitching coach came running out to stop him. He said, "ok, so I haven't talked to the head coach yet, but I like you and want you on the team. I'll talk to him when he gets back, but in the mean time, go home and get some stuff and head back. You're going to pitch . . . tonight!" And with that, Shaw hit the ground running.

Gabriel Shaw is much more than a baseball player however. He is getting married to his college sweetheart on October 11th this coming fall. Shaw met his future wife at Louisville where she was preparing to become an occupational therapist. She currently works at the University of Louisville hospital helping stroke patients readapt to independent life. As far as Gabriel's work life goes, he started working this offseason at UPS as a package auditor in a company warehouse that specializes in computer repair parts. He manages packages in this Louisville warehouse two football-fields long and wide. After working in the mortgage loan industry in previous winters, Shaw seems to love his new career at UPS.

As the 2014 campaign draws near, Gabriel has started throwing back at his Louisville baseball facility where he has been lucky enough to stay in touch with a lot of the coaches and program personnel. He usually takes a month or so off after the end of the season and totally relaxes his mind and body. After the rest period, he starts working out in the gym a couple times a week with light reps and exercises. Then by about December, Shaw heats up his gym workouts. According to the closer himself, "my goal is to come in 75-80% ready and let Spring Training take care of the rest. You want to be in tip top shape without being burnt out."

With 2014 around the corner, the elite closer prepares himself both physically and mentally for the upcoming grind that is a 96 game season. Even though the serious work ethic is strongly burning within the Rascals' dominant closer, there flickers a fun and silly Netflix fan. Since he doesn't really like to go out after games, Shaw loves to watch a plethora of shows on Netflix: Breaking Bad, Prison Break, Sons of Anarchy, Weeds, 24, and Blue Mountain State. The well-rounded veteran reliever returns to the River City mound this season where he'll again pursue the league save record, this time with experience in hand and a drive within.

Check out the River City Rascals Statistics



Frontier League Stories from April 14, 2014


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent River City Rascals Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central