Shane Baz is a 21-year old RHP from Cypress, Texas. He attended Concordia Lutheran High School where he was basically un-hittable on the rubber. Baz finished his junior year of high school with a 1.06 ERA and an absurd 46 strikeouts in 23 innings. If you do the math, that’s exactly 2 strikeouts per inning. Shane had committed to play college ball for the TCU Horned Frogs, but he decided to go straight to the pros instead. Baz was drafted 12th overall in the 2017 MLB draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
As an 18-year old kid, Shane Baz recorded a 3.80 ERA with 19 Ks in his first professional season with the Gulf Coast Pirates. He pitched 23.2 innings that year and only walked 14 batters. In 2018, Baz was sent to Tampa Bay as a Player To Be Named Later (PTBNL) in the Chris Archer trade. That trade also welcomed Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow to the Rays and is arguably one of the greatest trades in franchise history. I believe Shane Baz could be a high-caliber player in a few years after he put up some solid numbers in his 2019 campaign. He tossed 81.1 innings for the Bowling Green Hot Rods (Rays Single-A Affiliate) and ended with a 2.99 ERA and 87 punch-outs. I’m excited to see Baz pitch at the Trop in 2-3 years.
Source: tbraysreviews.com
