The Indians announced that they’ve released corner infielder Richie Shaffer from their Triple-A affiliate in Columbus. The 27-year-old former first-round pick had been in his second season with the organization.
Selected 25th overall by the Rays back in 2012, Shaffer logged fairly pedestrian numbers in the low minors before breaking out with a big 2015 in which he batted .267/.357/.539 in 108 games between Double-A and Triple-A as a 24-year-old. Tampa Bay brought him to the Majors late that season, but he managed just a .213/.310/.410 slash with five homers in 142 plate appearances with the Rays from 2015-16. The Rays traded Shaffer and Taylor Motter to the Mariners in exchange for three minor league pitchers (including Andrew Kittredge) that offseason, and he bounced around the waiver wire before settling in with Cleveland prior to the 2017 campaign.
Shaffer notched an .802 OPS with 30 homers for Cleveland’s top affiliate in 2017, but he’s off to an ugly start in 2018, having batted .164/.216/.310 through 125 PAs in his second season with Columbus. He’s primarily been a third baseman in the minors but also has significant experience at first base and in both corner outfield slots.
What a great swing !
Hope he catches on elsewhere and gets back on track.
Good luck!
K O R E A
YouTube search: Hooker Hill Korea
How about no?? And it’s Korea, not K O R E A
Mr. Avila?
I had hopes he would be able to put it all together and stick with the tribe, guess not.
if we didn’t have Ramirez at the corner he may have had a shot.
Or Diaz, Gonzalez and others ahead of him…
Time to dump Guyer next, he’s hitting a whopping .093 (4-43) on rehab in AAA and AA.
Which includes 1-30 against minor league RHP and a blistering 313 against his specialty LHP…leave him in Columbus!