The Cleveland Guardians desperately need their ace to play like one.
Tanner Bibee was expected to lead the way without Shane Bieber, and that hasn’t necessarily been the case this season.
With that in mind, Guardians insider Zack Meisel urged him to get it together in September.
In his latest column for The Athletic, Meisel pointed to Bibee’s struggles and potential bounce-back as a major factor for this team’s success – or lack thereof – in their playoff race:
“It’s been a maddening season for Bibee, and he’s the first to admit it. Everything has trended in the wrong direction: his hit rate, his home run rate, his walk rate, his strikeout rate. His expected metrics (based on quality of contact allowed) haven’t strayed too far from where they sat last season, and that offers hope that he can stop the bleeding. The solution might start with an adjustment made his last time out, when he prioritized his sinker and changeup ahead of his fastball, which has been walloped this season,” Meisel wrote.
The Guardians will roll with a six-man rotation to begin this crucial month.
That should help Bibee get a little more rest between starts and get back to his usual self before the end of the season.
He’s pressing too much; he knows the stakes are high and that he hasn’t necessarily been at his best.
He needs to get out of his own head and not let emotions get the best of him.
The Guardians still have the utmost confidence in him and his skills because they’ve already seen what he’s capable of when he’s at his best.
There’s no margin for error from now until the end of the season, especially with series pending against the Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, and Detroit Tigers, all direct rivals in the postseason race.
And even though he hasn’t been as good as expected this season, Stephen Vogt won’t hesitate to send him to the mound and put the ball in his hands in the most crucial moment of the campaign.
NEXT: Joey Cantillo Has Strong Belief About Guardians Amid Playoff Push
