So Shaman, combines Witch and Oracle. One hardly ever considers melee combat, the other is very often a melee combatant. But can the Shaman hold its own in combat? At first glance while its d8 hit die and 3/4ths BAB have potential I am just not seeing much melee support in the spirits.
Between the spell list, the FCB and the spirit it looks like it is about as well off as a cleric (many of which just get the travel domain and something else not melee orientated anyway).
So that would be a definite yes.
Battle has some options including eventually getting weapon specialization, bane weapons and flat bonuses to hit and damage for some rounds per day.
Flame offers some options, too by giving increased mobility (speed increase, nimble moves) in addition to allowing to see through fog and smoke which can be useful when combined with spells generating smoke. And eventually all weapons the shaman wields get the flame property.
Mammoth gives the ability to daze opponents with your fists and eventually increases your strength. In addition it has an option to give an opponent penalties on CMD which he can then exploit by using a combat maneuver. And he can buff his AC by increasing his natural armor.
I'm not going through all the spirits now but there is potential in some of them.
I've been meaning to try out a Hex Strike build work since I first saw it in Ultimate Combat a few years ago. Other than Hexcrafter Magus, I haven't really seen any builds that could make much use of it.
I Think you Can do well with a reach built. But if you manage to get some natural attacks a frostbite build is also a good option. A ratofficer with 3 natural attacks and frost bite seem ok but that Will take a few levels to get Rolling.
With hex strike and slumber hex you Can go around and knock folks out. A monk or brawler dip Can give the ius feat.
The Shaman can get some effectiveness out of the Blessed Hammer feat. They have a better list of touch spells than the Cleric list does.