CLEVELAND -- Shane Bieber checked off another important box in his comeback from his Tommy John surgery in April 2024 on Tuesday, as the right-hander’s Minor League rehab assignment moved to affiliate ball.
Bieber started for High-A Lake County on Tuesday evening against the Lansing Lugnuts at Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake, Ohio. He allowed one run on two hits with four strikeouts on 43 pitches. That workload was in line with the Guardians’ plan for him to throw 40-45 pitches over three innings.
The outing with Lake County marked Bieber’s first start with one of Cleveland’s Minor League affiliates. He began a rehab assignment on July 15, tossing two scoreless innings in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League before being reassigned to Lake County.
Bieber's start in the ACL began the clock on the 30-day window afforded to pitchers for a rehab assignment. He will need to make at least a couple more starts to build up his pitch count, but he is on pace to return to the Majors in early or mid-August, if all continues to go well.
How Bieber is feeling physically is the biggest factor here, and it’s why the Guardians are understandably taking things one step at a time.
“Anytime he's throwing in real games, you're on a progression, so it's exciting,” manager Stephen Vogt said. “We take it one day at a time with all of our rehab guys -- especially coming back from UCL surgery. For Shane, it's ‘check the box’ today and then ‘go get it’ tomorrow.”
Bieber previously was trending toward a late June or early July return to the Majors, but he suffered a setback after he experienced soreness in his surgically repaired right elbow. He was shut down from throwing for a week before resuming his progression.
The Guardians’ rotation has held things down while Bieber has been working his way back. Cleveland’s rotation entered Tuesday with a 3.85 ERA since June 1 (seventh in the Majors) over 241 innings (second). But adding the 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner to that group for the stretch run could represent a significant boost for the Guardians in a potential playoff push.
In the meantime, Bieber’s presence has been felt by the Guardians’ staff, even just as a resource in the clubhouse while he has continued his rehab progression in Cleveland.
“It’s great,” Vogt said. “It gives you someone to bounce ideas off of, bounce thoughts, experiences. If they have a question about a certain count or a certain situation, [such as], ‘What do you think? What do you do?’
“So I think anytime you have someone like Shane Bieber in your clubhouse, you get better. He's such a good teammate. He cares about the guys so much, and he brings energy just by having him around.”