The Cleveland Guardians employ one of the MLB’s best pitchers, Shane Bieber.
The righty is a former AL Cy Young Award winner and boasts a 3.22 career ERA.
When healthy, he is as reliable as they come.
The problem is that he is currently not healthy.
You probably wouldn’t believe that the Guards may still have an elite 1-2 punch in their rotation without Bieber, who is expected back by May or June.
That’s exactly Justin Lada’s point.
Lada, a specialist in Guardians prospects and their minor league system, witnessed the growth and evolution of Tanner Bibee and Gavin Williams from the moment they joined the organization.
https://twitter.com/LockedGuardians/status/1899148843746267374
He thinks they can form one of the best top-of-the-rotation pairings in the league, and he could very well be right.
It’s not a crazy claim by any means.
Bibee opened his career in 2023 with a 2.98 ERA and posted a 3.47 mark last year in 173.2 frames, with 187 strikeouts.
Williams delivered a 3.29 ERA as a first-year player in that 2023 season but slumped to a 4.86 ERA in 2024 after enduring some elbow issues that disrupted his preparation.
With a normal offseason, Williams is throwing upper-90s gas with ease and is showing off a gorgeous breaking ball.
Williams’ stuff might be even better than Bibee’s, and Lada says that the health concerns he had as a prospect haven’t affected his MLB career.
In other words, with full health, Bibee-Williams as a top-of-the-rotation couple is as good as any other in baseball, with just a handful of exceptions.
If the Guards get a healthy Bieber back at some point this year, we could be talking about the best trio in the league in a few months.
NEXT: Guardians Lefty Continues To Impress In Battle For Rotation Spot
