In a way, Braden Shewmake took a boat along his path to the majors.
During his middle school days, as his baseball aspirations were becoming more serious, Shewmake’s parents, Shane and Staci, had a proposal: Sell the family boat, one they took out on the lake fairly often, to help fund Shewmake’s baseball pursuit.
There wasn’t much time for boating anymore anyway. Braden is a middle child; his sisters, Casey and Haley, also had started playing sports. The time once invested relaxing on the water shifted to other interests.
“They all started playing sports, and obviously with baseball, it gets really, really hectic and your summers are pretty busy,” Shane told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “So it got to the point where we weren’t using the boat. We were at baseball games, and we’re like, ‘We could be using that (boat) money to help pay for all this stuff.’ Because it’s expensive to do all those different sports between him and his sisters. So it was like, it’s time. We’re not using this thing, and it can be put to better use.”
Hours before Shewmake made his MLB debut Friday, he told two reporters about the boat. The question that prompted it: What are you most looking forward to during your first major-league game? His answer, without hesitation, was seeing his parents in the stands. He mentioned the sacrifices they made for him, citing that boat.
“We went out on that thing all the time until baseball took over,” Shewmake said. “First thing they said, we’re going to sell that thing and put that money into you playing baseball. At that point, I was kind of thinking to myself, ‘This is something I want to do for them, too.’ Not just myself, but for them.”
He completed the task Friday, starting at shortstop for the Braves. The game itself lacked pizzazz – the Braves lost to the Orioles 9-4, and Shewmake went 0-for-3 with a strikeout – but that’s secondary to the big-picture accomplishment.
Shewmake, a 25-year-old from Wylie, Texas, became a major leaguer.
He didn’t have an inkling that the call – the one most baseball players can only fantasize about – was coming Friday morning. In fact, the only reason Shewmake was awake at 8:30 a.m., he said, was because of fatherly duties. He was giving his wife, Emily, a break, waking up with their 10-1/2-month-old son, Micah, so she could get some rest.
Shewmake was about to change Micah’s diaper before he was interrupted.
“I’d just gotten his clothes off after he’d made a mess of breakfast,” Shewmake said. “Then the phone rang.”
Later, Emily, Staci, Shane and other family and friends flocked to Truist Park. In Shane’s case, it required another sacrifice. He’s the long-time baseball coach at The University of Texas at Dallas, and his Comets were playing in their conference tournament.
“I’ve got some really good assistant coaches,” said Shane, who began the UT-Dallas program in 2002 and has never had a losing season. “I told the guys when I left, and I tell them all the time, ‘I don’t play. My job is to get you ready and practice, and then it’s your job to go play. So go play.’”
The Comets defeated Concordia University of Austin, Texas, 15-6 and had another game Saturday.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever really seen that man (Shane) tear up at all, but seeing tears in his eyes was a very special moment,” Braden said. “It brought tears to my eyes because I know how much work I put into this, but I know how much work he’s put into me. I know how much time he’s spent with me. He’s obviously my dad, but it’s a very special relationship that we have, and I wouldn’t trade for anything.”
Growing up around baseball had a profound effect on Braden, though his father never pushed him toward the sport. Braden played basketball, football and baseball through high school. He even was a quarterback.
Ultimately, baseball captured his heart. He went on to play collegiately at Texas A&M, where he hit .323 over three seasons before becoming a first-round pick by the Braves in 2019 (No. 21 overall).
“I’m biased because I’m his dad, but growing up, he was always a really good athlete,” Shane said. “He was always really athletic. And you knew he had a chance to do something, but you never dreamed that it would be big-league ability. You just never know that.”
Shewmake had his best minor-league season a year ago, making strides at the plate. He hit .259 with 14 homers, two triples and seven homers (his season was cut short after 76 games because of a knee injury). He also has been successful in 35 of 40 stolen-base attempts in the minors.
His 2022 success bled into spring training, when Shewmake hit .324 (10-for-31) with a double, triple and five RBIs. And yes, he and his dad talked multiple times a week during that stretch. His father was among those helping him refine his approach at the plate.
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Manager Brian Snitker and teammates lauded his defense, speed and blossoming bat.
“He’s come a long way,” Snitker said Friday. “Talking to the guys in the minor leagues, seeing last spring how he handled himself. He was more confident, more sure of himself. As they go through that maturation process in the minor leagues – he’s been there for a while now, so he’s had a lot of bats. It’s good. He’s a very talented guy.”
Shewmake’s well-rounded skill set put him into the conversation to replace Dansby Swanson, who left in free agency, as the Braves’ starting shortstop. The team opted for veteran Orlando Arcia over youngsters Shewmake and Vaughn Grissom, but Arcia’s injury and Grissom’s recent struggles led to Shewmake’s debut.
“It went right down to the wire as to what they were going to do, and they made a good decision,” Shane said. “Arcia was playing really, really well before he got hurt.”
Shewmake, revisiting the spring: “There was no wrong decision. Everybody had proven they can play. It’s rewarding, obviously, to finally get my opportunity. We’re just getting started.”
Speaking of Grissom, while he and Shewmake were competing for the same spot, it never affected their relationship. The two are close friends. Shewmake congratulated Grissom when he was promoted in August, and Grissom responded by telling Shewmake he would’ve been the one promoted if not for his injury.
This time, Grissom was the first person to text Shewmake after hearing Friday’s news. The two are together now in the majors, handling the middle infield, at least until Arcia returns later this month.
“Just a jolt of energy,” starting pitcher Max Fried said of Shewmake. “He plays hard. I’ve really only been able to see him in spring training, but every spring training game I’ve been a part of, he’s extremely confident in what he can do. And right now we just need good, hard baseball. I know every time he takes that field, he plays extremely hard.”
There still are questions about Shewmake. His offense always has been center of the conversation. Former vice president of scouting Dana Brown, whose drafting results are starting to make him feel like baseball’s Ron Wolf, expressed a belief that Shewmake would grow into more power. The Braves have seen some of that, especially the gap power he showed during spring training.
“I was trying to get back to what I did best, that was the key,” Shewmake said of his time at Triple-A Gwinnett this season. “I think we’re pretty close to getting back to that if we’re not there yet. The offensive side of things is what I knew I had to come in and improve. We’re still working towards that, but keep grinding away at it.”
The defense and speed, though, should make Shewmake a long-time major-leaguer. The first thing Snitker noted following his debut was Shewmake’s range.
Another quality working in Shewmake’s favor: maturity. Shewmake is level-headed, focused on the daily work of being a professional athlete rather than the glamorous aspects.
“He surprises me at times,” Shane said. “I’ll hear him talk, hear interviews, and I’m like, ‘OK, where did that come from?’ Because I’ve known him all his life. He’s always been in leadership roles throughout his athletic career, and he’s just taken to that. He is always able to say the right things at the right time. And I’m always amazed when I hear, too, because I would be like, ‘I don’t know if I would have said stuff like that.’ And I’m 53 years old. He amazes me sometimes, as well.”
Shewmake won’t need to be a leader on the Braves – they have plenty of those – and he said the team told him to focus on being a piece of the puzzle, not the whole thing. Shewmake has proved pretty good with following instructions.
Now, he has the chance to prove he’s a pretty good major leaguer, too. It might not happen immediately. It might not happen linearly. But it started Friday, forever the day that truly justified selling that boat.
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