Former Cleveland Guardians pitcher Shane Bieber has excelled in his minor-league rehab starts and is close to making his Toronto Blue Jays debut.
Ex-Guardians Cy Young Award winner nearing MLB return with Blue Jays originally appeared on The Sporting News
This year's trade deadline provided the Cleveland Guardians the opportunity to offload three of their star players: outfielder Steven Kwan, closer Emmanuel Clase and starting pitcher Shane Bieber. Only one of them made a move elsewhere.
Kwan (because the Guardians couldn't find an offer to their liking) and Clase (because he was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave on July 28 and is actively being investigated by MLB for his role in a gambling probe) both remain with the team, but Bieber was dealt to the Toronto Blue Jays, the squad with the best record in the American League (68-48).
Bieber's last MLB start came on April 2, 2024, and he has since been on the shelf recovering from Tommy John surgery. He made his first rehab start on May 31 of this year and has excelled in the minor leagues, allowing four runs on 12 hits and earning 27 strikeouts to just two walks across 16.1 innings pitched.
The Blue Jays will remain cautious with Bieber's arm as they ramp up his pitch count, but his early success indicates that his return to the big leagues could be around the corner.
"The former Cy Young Award winner's return is approaching," ESPN's Alden Gonzalez wrote. "The right-hander made his fifth rehab start — and first since being acquired by the Blue Jays — on Sunday, striking out six batters across five innings. He'll make another start on Saturday, then perhaps one more after that. Then the Blue Jays will see if they can get the front-line starter they envisioned when they unloaded promising pitching prospect Khal Stephen to pry Bieber from the Cleveland Guardians last week."
Upon being called up to the Blue Jays' active roster, Bieber will provide an immediate jolt to a team with championship aspirations — so long as he remains healthy.
"If he's close to what he was even after winning the AL Cy Young Award in 2020 — a guy who put up a 3.13 ERA and struck out 459 batters in 436.2 innings from 2021 to 2024 — he can join Kevin Gausman and José Berríos to form a really solid rotation trio in October," Gonzalez wrote. "But the initial returns from Tommy John surgery can be tricky. Just ask Sandy Alcántara."
The Guardians, despite losing Bieber, remain firmly in the hunt for a playoff spot. With a 59-55 record in tow, the club is six games behind the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central but just 1.5 games behind the New York Yankees for the league's third wild card spot.
Category: Baseball
