New Chief In The TeePee: Shane Bieber Rises As Trevor Bauer Departs
To steal a quote from the great Harry Doyle, “In case you haven’t noticed – and judging by the attendance you haven’t – the Cleveland Indians are climbing the American League Central standings!”
As of press time, the Indians are trailing the Minnesota Twins by just 2 games (they had lagged by as much as 11.5 games in early June), but appear to have offloaded angsty Ace Trevor Bauer as part of a 3 team deal that will net them Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes!
With former Ace Corey Kluber on the mend, they should be OK in the pitching department though – and a big reason for the that is rising phenom Shane Bieber.
In 2018, Bieber made 19 starts and recorded an 11-5 record. He began 2019 as the 5th starter, saw his first appearance out of the bullpen, and weathered murmurs that he’d stick there – or see time back down on the farm. In response, thus far this year he’s 10-3 in 21 starts, with a league-leading 2 complete game shutouts (including Wednesday night’s one hitter versus the Blue Jays), and has played the all-important role of stopper, rising to the occasion after many a Tribe loss. With the All-Star game just behind us, Shane Bieber has been Cleveland’s clear Ace to this point.
Now, Bieber’s ascension to the role hasn’t be credited entirely to performance. At the start of the 2019 season, the top of the Indians’ rotation looked the same as it did in 2018, with Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer as the 1a and 1b starters, and Carlos Carrasco entrenched as the #3. But baseball is a fickle mistress, and misfortune begot opportunity for young Shane. Kluber’s broken arm, Bauer’s struggles, and Carrasco’s cancer diagnosis meant that someone else needed to step up and STAT. Bieber did just that, dominating to the tune of a 3.44 ERA with 166/29 K/BB ratio.
Earlier this month, Bieber became the 3rd ever hometown All-Star Game MVP (joining Sandy Alomar, Jr also in Cleveland in 1997, and Pedro Martinez in Boston in 1999). He entered the game in the 5th inning with the Amrican League leading 1-0 and struck the side out on 19 pitches. Since then, Bieber has won two out of three starts since the All-Star break, with the one being a no decision that the Indians won against the Twins to avoid a disastrous sweep (sidenote: Bieber has 6 no-decisions already this year – imagine his record if the Indians had a bullpen!).
Last Wednesday, the efficiency on display was unreal as Bieber threw 102 pitches with 68 of them being strikes. He tallied 10 strikeouts with one walk and one hit batsman. Last night was slightly less glamorous, featuring 9 hits allowed, but just 2 went or extra bases and the performance saw Bieber rack up 8 Ks to just 1 walk over 7 innings.
With Bauer on the move, Carrasco out indefinitely, and Kluber coming off a broken pitching arm, the Tribe will be relying even more heavily on their young hurler. Bieber will continue to be the Indians Ace for the foreseeable future, and if he keeps throwing the way he has, he should be in the Cy Young conversation down the stretch.
-Charley Peters
