SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — When Bryan Shaw’s fastball screams to the plate at 95 mph, it looks as flat as Colorado’s eastern plains. But that tantalizing glimpse soon turns out to be a mirage.
Shaw’s late-breaking cut fastball, or cutter, moves almost laterally, and just enough to make the batter often whiff, chop the ball into the ground or break his bat. The right-hander throws his signature pitch 88 percent of the time, every once in a while sneaking in a slider to steal a strike early in the count or keep a batter honest.
“Bryan can throw the cutter, at times, up to 97, 98,” said Terry Francona, who managed Shaw for five seasons in Cleveland.