Burnet graduate Shaw to pitch for Sam Houston State

CAPTION: Burnet High School graduate Kade Shaw’s competitive spirit will serve him well as he competes for a role on the Sam Houston State University pitching staff. Courtesy photo

Former Burnet High School pitcher Kade Shaw has found his new program. Shaw will be attending Sam Houston State University.

“They’re a really good program,” he said. “They came in contact with me. And it was something that I knew was right, and I ended up making decisions based off that.”

Shaw, who graduated from Burnet in 2024, spent the last two years at Temple College.

“I’ve been putting it in the hard work,” he said. “I think I have a lot of time to develop and potential, and I think I’m ready. Compared from high school to now, I’ve made significant jumps, and I’m only going to continue to get better. And we’re looking forward to winning a lot of games.”

The six-foot, 180-pound lefty said the pitching rotation would be determined in the fall.

“Nobody’s spots are really set in stone,” he said. “And so that’s something that everybody’s just going to have to go in there and earn.”

And that’s not new to Shaw. Earning a spot in the pitching rotation has been something that he has had to earn since he was wearing Kelly green. During his final year, he was a member of a high school class that won just about every district title in every sport in 2023-24, including baseball. Shaw was a starting pitcher for the Bulldogs in the extremely competitive District 24-4A.

“I really feel like nothing’s promised and so going out there every day, (it might be) the last time that you’ll ever get to do so, just keeping a winning mentality and just never backing down,” he said. “At the junior college I was at, we were in the best conference (North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference) in the entire nation and played some very competitive, very good guys. Any sign of give and they were just going to take what’s theirs. And so keeping that competitive spirit as far as just doing your absolute best every single day and just never saying never and believing that you’re the best every time you step on the field, it’s going to get you a long way, and that’s something that I’ve really tried to adopt as I got to this point.”

The son of Donna and Kaleb Shaw is pursuing a degree in biology.

The younger Shaw had nothing but praise for Temple, especially its coaching staff. The Leopards finished the 2026 season with a 31-24 record, 17-15 in conference play.

“They had an amazing coaching staff as well as on the baseball side of it, everything,” he said. “I also feel more on the mental side. We probably did some of the hardest workouts I’ve done in my entire life. The players just as much as coaches show up every single day and work every day. It created this ‘work hard’ mentality that we came with there, and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we did it with each other. And we became more of a family, and so they have been super awesome. And then obviously the baseball side of it, they have tons of experience and you’re around guys every day and you just work on your craft, and I think that’s what got us so far.”