Red Sox’s Travis Shaw continuing to prove he has big-league staying power

12:49 AM ET

ATLANTA — Within the past week, Travis Shaw recognized a potentially troublesome trend. Opposing pitchers were attacking him with inside fastballs, believing he’s vulnerable to pitches in that location. And so, after he went hitless Monday night, the young Boston Red Sox third baseman spent extra time in the batting cage Tuesday making an adjustment to his swing.

It worked.

Sure enough, in the first inning, Atlanta Braves starter Matt Wisler’s fourth pitch to Shaw began inside before drifting back over the plate. Shaw turned on it, hammering it over the right-field wall for a three-run home run that keyed the Red Sox’s 13-hit outburst in an 11-4 rout at Turner Field.

And just like that, if there was any lingering doubt about Shaw’s big-league staying power, it was erased.

“It’s something I didn’t want to really have to focus on, but it seemed like that was becoming more of the book on me right now,” Shaw said of the perception that he is weak on inside pitches. “I wanted to go ahead and close that up before it got out of hand.”

There have been many hitters who burst into the big leagues with the success Shaw enjoyed last season, only to fizzle once the league saw them a time or two. In fact, Shaw’s 13 homers, .487 slugging percentage and .327 on-base percentage in 226 at-bats after getting called up from Triple-A Pawtucket were remarkably similar to another young Red Sox third baseman, Will Middlebrooks, who flamed out after hitting 15 homers, slugging .509 and reaching base at a .325 clip in 267 …

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