Cleveland Guardians young star Tanner Bibee followed up his excellent rookie campaign of 2023 with another solid year in 2024.
Last season, he took over the ‘ace’ designation in Shane Bieber’s stead due to the elbow injury suffered by the latter, which resulted in surgery and a prolonged absence.
Bibee delivered an excellent 3.47 ERA in 31 starts and 173.2 innings of work.
He also struck out 187 batters and finished with 3.3 fWAR.
In short, he was excellent, and he was durable.
You will be surprised to know that he did it all with some shoulder discomfort.
“Tanner Bibee told me that his shoulder was “a little banged up most of last year.” Has worked on mechanical tweaks to get his arm through cleaner without pain. Wouldn’t have known he was battling that from his results in 2024,” Eric Samulski, who covers baseball for NBC Sports/Rotoworld, posted on X.
Tanner Bibee told me that his shoulder was “a little banged up most of last year.” Has worked on mechanical tweaks to get his arm through cleaner without pain. Wouldn’t have known he was battling that from his results in 2024.
— Eric Samulski (@SamskiNYC) February 27, 2025
MLB pitchers often have to deal with a myriad of physical ailments throughout the season.
Some of them become public; others are well-kept by teams and players.
In this case, Bibee was healthy enough to make 31 starts and that’s the main takeaway.
However, it’s impossible not to think about how much better he could have been with no pain in arguably the most important body part involved in the science of pitching.
If he can indeed find a way to use cleaner mechanics without losing his trademark effectiveness, the Guardians should consider themselves really lucky.
Once again Cleveland is asking Bibee to lead the staff for a few months without Bieber.
If he is healthy, that’s almost a given.
NEXT: Guardians Reliever Will Reportedly Undergo Surgery
