Career In Wealth Management On Deck For Indy Infielder Raul Shah

Five years after graduating from Johns Hopkins with an economic degree, Raul Shah is hard at work in California, training with hitting instructor John Stevens.

Shah, the product of a marriage between a physician and a computer programmer raised in Mumbai, India, was born in London. His game is baseball, not cricket. He hit .350 with a .981 OPS in the unaffiliated Pioneer League last season, earning him a shot against tougher competition in the Atlantic League.

Undrafted after his senior season at Johns Hopkins, he has since been on a mission to get a shot to prove himself against ranked prospects and high draft picks in Double-A or Triple-A, just as he is establishing himself as an analyst of stocks.

Shah has had his own portfolio of stocks since he was 19 and has become an accomplished investor who manages his parents’ portfolio, earning them a compound annual growth rate of 30 percent since he took it over after college. He is ranked in the top three percent of stock pickers on a website that tracks bloggers (tipranks.com) and offers his breakdown of stocks on another website, Seeking Alpha.

“If I wasn’t playing baseball, I’d like to be a wealth manager,’’ Shah said. “But as for baseball, I couldn’t be more excited. It’s right there for me. I think my hard work is coming to fruition. I really think I’m just two steps away from being on a big-league roster.”

For someone with such confidence in his understanding of the bottom line, it speaks loudly about his love for baseball that he is choosing to spend more money on his baseball career than he earns in independent ball. The Ogden Raptors, cast aside in the downsizing of minor-league baseball, paid Shah $1200 a month before taxes last year.

He is in the hole every year after spending for coaching, equipment, clubhouse tips, gas and hotels to get around the country. He spent the winter working out in Santa Barbara, Calif, and doesn’t think twice about delaying the start of his business career.

“Once you get a degree, it’s in your back pocket,’’ Shah said. “Nobody can take it from you. You decide when you want to put it to work. To me, this is the time to find out how good I can be in baseball. You can’t do the opposite.”

Shah has methodically pursued his pro career after playing for Division III Johns Hopkins, with the Covid-19 pandemic providing an unexpected obstacle. He spent 2019 and ’20 playing in the Canadian-American Association and an improvised league called the All-American Baseball Challenge before getting in 86 games with Ogden last season.

“This may sound a little crazy but I don’t look at it like I’m that far behind,’’ Shah said. “Coming from a Division III college, I wasn’t going to get scouted or drafted. You have to work your up in independent leagues. The thing is, when you get a chance you have to play well. I feel like if I get a fast start this season I can really leap-frog my way up the ladder.”

While working with Stevens before last season, Shah made some mechanical adjustments which he says allowed him to “see 90 (mph) like it was 80.” He also continues to work on his defense at second base, and believes a breakout season with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs could put him on the radar of major league organizations.

“The changes I’ve made have made a huge difference,” Shah said. “I’ve worked on my hitting even more getting ready for this season.”

He’ll invest in himself until his analysis tells him it is time to make finance a career, not a hobby.