Every MLB manager and team should want a starting pitcher who tries to go as deep into the game as he can every time out. Sometimes, that intensity may work against the pitcher, or could cause an issue at the mound or in the dugout, which has sometimes been the case for Tanner Bibee and the Cleveland Guardians.
In his most recent start, on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Bibee was kept to a strict pitch count after experiencing some shoulder discomfort in his Opening Day outing against the Seattle Mariners. He was removed from his second start after 74 pitches, and even though almost two-thirds of them were strikes, he lasted just four innings.
Bibee’s desire to get right back out there may work against him in the long run, but insider Paul Hoynes shut down that big concern about the right-hander, saying it’s better than not wanting the ball.
“I don’t mind intensity. It may get in Bibee’s way at times, but it beats the alternative. He wants to stay in the game and fights manager Stephen Vogt when he comes to the mound to remove him. There’s nothing wrong with that,” Hoynes wrote.
Last August, in the heat of a pennant race and with the Guardians using an unorthodox six-man starting rotation, Bibee and Vogt exchanged words in the dugout after the pitcher was removed from a game against the Tampa Bay Rays. At the time, Vogt called Bibee “one of the most competitive, fiery people I’ve ever been around.”
That attitude serves Bibee well, at least most of the time. As a fifth-round pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, he had to prove himself as a legitimate prospect, and he made his debut for the Guardians in relatively short order, arriving in the majors in 2023.
He went 10-4 with a 2.98 ERA that first year, finishing second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting to Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles. Bibee won 12 games in each of the next two seasons, and he impressively won his final three starts last season, including a two-hit shutout of the Chicago White Sox, to help the Guardians overtake the Detroit Tigers and win the AL Central.
Still looking for his first victory of this season, Bibee is scheduled to be back on the mound Monday against the Kansas City Royals.
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