At 35, Bryan Shaw's stuff is 'best it's ever been'

This story was excerpted from Scott Merkin’s White Sox Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BOSTON -- Bryan Shaw appeared in just one game for the White Sox during the Nationals’ three-game series victory. And, to be honest, that total is two games light in the mind of the veteran reliever, who has pitched in 18 of 32 games since Aug. 18.

“I would pitch in every game if they let me,” Shaw told me during a recent interview. “As a bullpen guy to be around as long as I have, you have to want to have that be your name every time the phone rings. If you are a guy down there and you are like, ‘I don’t want that to be me,’ that’s when it is you and something happens in the game that goes against you.

“Having that mindset of wanting the ball every day and wanting the ball every time that phone rings, and every outing, that helps you as a pitcher. It allows you to have the mindset of, ‘OK, if it is me, I need to be ready.’ It allows you to not be caught off guard, not be all of a sudden, they call down and you haven’t stretched or done something. I have to go now and try to ramp it up. It prevents all that from happening.”

Shaw is an expert at being ready. At 35, the right-hander has made 784 appearances over 13 big league seasons. All but two of those have come in relief, and those two came as the opener for Cleveland in back-to-back trips to the mound last July.

His 784 appearances rank 61st all-time with the target of 800 games next on Shaw’s agenda. Jesse Orosco’s MLB record of 1,252 games pitched remains in his sights.

“Then I played with Cal [Quantrill] the last few years, his dad [Paul] has 841. That will be the next step,” Shaw said. “Joe Smith has 866, another guy I played with. That’s No. 2: 800, Paul, Joe, then 1,000 and then just get there and might as well go for the record.

“I think it was [469] to beat it. It’s only averaging [78] the next six years. We are good.”

In his current role, Shaw is doing more than simply picking up needed innings for the White Sox and providing guidance for a core of young pitchers. Until Joey Meneses’ game-winning, three-run, pinch-hit homer on Tuesday, Shaw had thrown 12 2/3 scoreless in September with 16 strikeouts, four walks and four hits allowed.

So, the man who has appeared in at least 70 games in seven seasons knows he can still get hitters out. And he clearly wants to keep going.

“I’ve talked to my wife and my agent, and it would be one thing if I was going out there and trying to do different things to get guys out,” Shaw said. “Not to make it sound weird, but drop my arm or trying to do this just to keep going. That would be different to where now I feel good. I’ve added some new pitches effectively this year that we’ve been working on the last couple of years. Finally, I’ve been able to use them in games.

“My repertoire is probably the best it’s literally ever been in my career. Being able to mix pitches and being able to throw strikes and do all that kind of stuff. As long as I can continue to do that, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to keep playing. Obviously, if that goes away for some reason, I’ll think about the next step. But until that happens, the next five or seven years from now, hopefully, go from there.”