St. Louis Cardinals: Anthony Shew’s journey has been about growth

Before getting hit by a liner on May 12, Anthony Shew was making his emergence and stating his case to get his shot on the St. Louis Cardinals. His journey from undrafted free agent to potential MLB promotion has been one of growth.

As an undrafted free agent signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2016, Anthony Shew hasn’t been exactly the most touted of prospects, not even receiving scouting grades on sites like Fangraphs and Baseball Savant. These are the types of players that are many times drafted as long shots, and are more used for minor league depth.

However, Shew has been quietly making his way up the minor league ladder, playing solid at each level along the way. This has culminated in a pretty solid start to 2019. He started the year in AA, making 5 starts and putting up a 1.93 ERA. He also allowed just 6 walks and a single homer, and this prompted a bump up to AAA.

This may seem like a move made a bit fast. After all, five starts isn’t exactly a sample size to be confident with, but I think the St. Louis Cardinals organization has liked the way Shew has grown quickly as he has climbed up the minor league ladder.

That might seem confusing, but the picture becomes more clear when you see the growth that Shew has gone through. While many people haven’t heard about it, it is a surprising story worth keeping an eye on if you’re a St. Louis Cardinals fan.

As mentioned earlier, Shew wasn’t exactly touted at the major league level, but it wasn’t always that way. As with many players gunning for the big leagues, Shew had a lot going for him.

Shew is the cousin of MLB pitcher Ian Kennedy, and was instrumental in leading his Mission Viejo (in California, about 50 miles southeast of Downtown Los Angeles) High School baseball team to the CIF Championship in his junior year, winning the title game at Dodger Stadium. He continued to lead the rotation in his senior season with a 2.47 ERA and earned All-League second team honors.

He moved on to Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo in 2013 and won a Scholar Baller award for success as both a student and an athlete. In his first year, Shew went 20 innings allowing no runs and just eight hits while picking up 17 Ks. He followed that up with a stellar sophomore year in which he threw 95.1 innings of 1.51 ERA ball and earned All-Conference first team honors.

He then transferred to UC San Francisco, where he became the top starter in the rotation. He started 13 games for the Dons, and finished his 90.1 innings of work with a 3.64 ERA and was named to the All-Conference second team. In 2016, Shew’s senior season, he struggled a bit to the tune of a 4.71 ERA, but his talent was enough to catch the eyes of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Despite going undrafted, getting a change with an organization wasn’t something Shew had to worry about for long. He was signed soon after the draft, just over a month after making his final collegiate start.

As expected with a minor leaguer, Shew had a very inconsistent start to his career. But in this case, it wasn’t entirely his fault.

Shew was assigned to Johnson City for the 2016 season, and it was a bit of a bumpy ride out of the gate. He played 15 games, but was a starter in only 1 of those games. Shew did not adjust very well to being a full time reliever, and he finished that season off with some abysmal numbers: a 6.66 ERA, 1.95 WHIP, and a scary 15.1 H/9.

Fortunately (and somewhat obviously), this is the lowest point of Shew’s minor league journey so far. He had a stellar rebound in 2017, in part due to his return to starting games as opposed to relieving them. The other interesting thing is that despite how much Shew struggled over a pretty significant sample size, he was promoted all the way up to Palm Beach to start the season.

Unfortunately, he gave up 6 hits and 5 runs in 3 innings in his first game there, prompting a demotion to the State College Spikes, the short season Single-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. He made just 4 starts there, but for a more positive reason. He pitched to the tune of a 3.36 ERA, and although he allowed 6 runs in his final start, he made it deep into games and showed some encouraging signs.

He was then promoted to Peoria in mid July, where he spent the rest of 2017. Shew found success with the Chiefs, putting up a 2.95 ERA over 58 innings that included a 1.42 ERA over his final 5 starts of the season, capping off a surprisingly successful 2017.

Shew’s growth has been exceptional, and it’s not a longshot to say that he has a chance to make the majors. However, the step to the majors is so much more difficult than other jumps, and part of it has to do with the roster outside of Shew.

There isn’t very much information on Shew’s injury besides his presence on the 7-day, so I am thinking it is something that will keep him out for a few starts, but not much longer than that. The way he comes back from this injury, his first stint on the IL.

There is one thing I can say with confidence though: Shew will probably not see the majors in 2019, no matter how well he pitches. It isn’t a slight on his abilities, as he has proven time and time again he can evolve and adapt. No, it is more because of the way the St. Louis Cardinals and the first few men up from the minors are currently set up.

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In particular, the presence of Daniel Ponce De Leon, Austin Gomber, and Alex Reyes will make it difficult for the St. Louis Cardinals to justify calling Shew up. Both have been pitching well in Memphis as well, and they both have already shown the ability to be successful at the major league level.

There is a slight chance that if he keeps putting up elite numbers into September, we may see him on the expanded roster towards the end of the season. However, 2020 seems like a more likely time for us to see Shew in the majors.

But with the fast rate at which he is improving his game, I wouldn’t put it past him to surprise the world once again. They say you can never have too many pitchers in baseball, and Shew might be testing the St. Louis Cardinals belief in that theory very soon.

Anthony Shew certainly has a chance to put his talent together enough to survive in the majors. He’s already gone incredibly far for a undrafted free agent in a short amount of time, and until he proves me wrong, I will continue to have faith in the growth of Anthony Shew.