Guardians fans should be pleased with Tanner Bibee extension three months later

When Shane Bieber won the 2020 American League Cy Young Award, the moment served as an unofficial coronation for the Cleveland Guardians' next ace following the Corey Kluber era of the 2010s.

In fact, Bieber and Kluber were Cleveland's only Opening Day starters between 2015-'24 — an entire decade of baseball was dedicated to two of the best pitchers in recent franchise history.

This year, Tanner Bibee was set to break that trend since Bieber's still on the shelf due to last season's Tommy John surgery, but the 26-year-old Bibee ended up missing the start because of astomach flu, which paved the way for Ben Lively to take bump.

And while that flu meant that Bibee would miss out on the honor of starting on Opening Day, it didn't change the fact that Bibee is the Guardians' new ace.

In fact, the team made that official earlier in spring training when they inked him to a five-year, $48 million contract that also includes a $21 million club option for 2030.

Here's how his first three months as the team's unquestioned ace have gone.

Tanner Bibee, Guardians starting to reap the benefits of long-term changes

Things got off to a rocky start, as Bibee posted a 4.36 ERA in 33 innings pitched in March/April. His strikeout rate (18.4%) was down, his walk rate (10.3%) was way up, and he was allowing a bonkers 2.45 home runs per nine innings. After his delayed start to the year, he just didn't look like the pitcher who had authored a 3.25 ERA in his first 300+ major league innings.

Bibee has looked more like himself since the calendar turned to May, however. He's allowed just 18 earned runs in 47 2/3 innings in May and June (3.40 ERA), which has helped his strikeout rate (20.4%) and walk rate (6.0%) both move back toward his career averages.

He's added a new wrinkle too with the introduction of a sinker, which has cannibalized his four-seam usage. In 2024, Bibee threw his fastball 43% of the time; this year, it's down to 30%, with nearly all of that difference going toward his newfound sinker (14%).

The change was made with good reason, as Bibee's fastball was crushed last year to the tune of a .282 opposing hitter batting average (.344 wOBA), which was the worst of all his pitches, save for his curveball. In 2025, his fastball has been quite a bit more effective (.242 average against, .328 wOBA), though his sinker remains a work in progress (.286 average, .329 wOBA).

His changeup, sweeper, and cutter are as effective as they've ever been, though he's taken the same approach with his curveball (his worst breaking pitch) as he has with his fastball in that he's using it less in favor of his sweeper.

While these changes should prove beneficial over the long haul, it's still worth nothing that the version of Bibee we've got this season has been worthy of the the extension he received in the spring.

While he still has a ways to go to earn the same status in Cleveland as Bieber and Kluber have, he's already shown us how impressive he can be even when he's not at his best.