Newcomer Shaw piling up extra-base hits for Brewers
Slugger Eric Thames may be getting the bulk of the credit for the Milwaukee Brewers' power surge, but he's not the only newcomer rocking Miller Park.
Third baseman Travis Shaw has been racking up extra bases since joining the Brewers in an offseason trade with the Boston Red Sox, and now has 14 extra-base hits on the season, tied with Thames for the team lead.
That translates to around 77.8 percent of his hits, a stat that has produced a team-leading 18 RBI through 19 games.
It's the highest such percentage in the league so far this season.
| Player | Team | % of hits |
| Travis Shaw | Brewers | 77.8 |
| Joey Gallo | Rangers | 76.9 |
| Trevor Story | Rockies | 72.7 |
| Miguel Sano | Twins | 71.4 |
| Austin Hedges | Padres | 70.0 |
| Joey Votto | Reds | 62.5 |
He's chipped in five home runs as well, contributing to a Brewers' (Counsell's Crushers? Craig's Crushers? Anyone?) offense that now leads the league with 34 home runs and 77 extra-base hits.
That's more than any Brewers squad since the 1970s through 20 games.
| Home runs (first 20 games) | Season |
| 34 | 2017 |
| 31 | 1978 |
| 29 | 1987 |
| 28 | 1979, 2001, 2006, 2009 |
His latest -- a 465-foot shot in the Brewers' win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday -- tied Chicago Cubs star Kris Bryant for the longest homer of the young season, and reached 116.9 mph when it left Shaw's bat, making it the hardest-hit bomb of the year.
Statistics courtesy of STATS LLC and Baseball-Reference.com
