Cleveland Indians: Is Shane Bieber a future ace for the Tribe?

The Cleveland Indians have one of the best rotations on all of baseball. With that said, continuing that in the future is crucial to the sustainability of the rotation’s success.

The Cleveland Indians have a great rotation in the majors. However, the future of the rotation depends on development in the farm.

Cleveland has done a great job developing and bringing pitchers to the majors and because of this their rotation has been among baseball’s best for the last few years.

The team seems to have another future dominant arm in the minor league system. You may be thinking of top prospect Triston McKenzie, but there is someone else to keep on the radar.

Shane Bieber is a 22-year-old starting pitcher in the Indians farm system. He is in Double-A Akron at the start of this 2018 season.

Bieber has come on the scene quickly as he has only been in the league since 2016. In his short time with the club, he has put up great numbers and is catching the eyes of fans and the front office.

In 40 career starts the young right-handed starter has compiled a great stat line. He has gone 13-5 with a 2.38 ERA and racked up 211 strikeouts.

With his career 8.5 K/9 line, he has started to earn a rep as a strikeout artist. His start to 2018 has been nothing short of excellent.

In four starts in Akron he is 3-0 with 26 IP, 28 strikeouts, a 1.04 ERA and a 0.77 WHIP. He paved his way to an MLB Pipeline Team of the Week for April 5-15.

Bieber came into the organization in 2016 after being picked in the fourth round in the 2016 June draft. Bieber started eight games in low-A ball going 0-0 with a 0.38 ERA and 21 Ks after being drafted.

In 2017 he quickly climbed the ladder of the minors starting in Single-A ball and made his way to Double-A Akron compiling a 10-5 record with a 2.86 ERA and 162 strikeouts on the year.

Bieber’s continued success into 2018 has fans wondering whether he is the next ace in the Indians future. Because the Indians have another top prospect, Triston McKenzie, Bieber could form a future one-two punch in the Indians rotation with him.

He started Sunday for the RubberDucks and had his worst outing of the season. However, the outing was still enough for the win.

Bieber went six innings and only allowed three earned runs but gave up 10 hits in the game. Because he limited the damage and his team gave him nine runs and 13 hits of their own, this outing extended his record to 3-0 but his ERA did climb to 1.04 after not allowing a run in his previous three starts.

As much as Tribe fans would love it, Corey Kluber will not be around forever. The future of the Indians pitching staff looks to have a stud in their succession plan.

Next: Tribe has options with Danny Salazar

Fans should keep track of the RubberDucks and pay attention to Bieber’s outings. You never know when you could be watching a future All-Star for the Indians rise from the bottom to the top.