How Shane Bieber can help save the Cleveland Guardians

Guardians fans are (hopefully) just a few weeks away from seeing Shane Bieber's return to the mound.

Bieber, the American League Cy Young winner in 2020, has been attempting to return back to the mound following last season's Tommy John surgery. While he embarked on a rehab assignment earlier this year, he recently experienced a minor setback with elbow soreness during his rehab.

Bieber initially started his rehabilitation process on May 31, with his initial timeline expecting him to be back and ready to play in either June or July. That timeline was pushed back after he recent setbacks.

Bieber threw some live batting practices at the beginning of the month, and could begin another rehab assignment soon. Once his rehab stint resumes, the Guardians should have a better timeline for when he could return to the Guardians.

And the team certainly needs him back as soon as possible.

Shane Bieber makes a major difference for the Cleveland Guardians

Bieber hasn't taken a major league mound since April 2024 due to that aforementioned Tommy John surgery, which may hurt his value across the league.

That said, he was consistently one of the top pitchers in the majors prior to getting hurt. He was on fire in his brief showing in 2024, as he tossed 12 scoreless innings and allowed just 10 hits and zero runs while striking out 20 batters.

His best season came in 2020 when he secured his Cy Young win with a 1.63 ERA in 77 1/3 innings. He also received Cy Young votes in the 2019 and 2022 seasons, and is a two-time All-Star who has also won a Gold Glove.

But, for some reason, people seem to forget just how dangerous he is. That may be because he has not thrown a pitch in-game in nearly 16 months, or may just be ignorance.

Through his lengthy career, the 30-year-old is averaging 10.2 strikeouts per nine innings and 5.10 strikeouts per one walk. He also has a 3.22 ERA though 843 innings.

Bieber is not just some middle of the rotation pitchers, he's put together a stellar career and still has more gas left in the tank.

It's clear the Guaridans' rotation needs help. While the rotation has pitched a bit better as of late, offseason acquisition Luis Ortiz is currently under investigation by MLB and the team has been scrambling to fill his spot.

While Bieber may be slow out of the gates whenever he gets back to the roster, history has shown us how good he can be when he's got everything working.

Not much has gone right for the Guardians as of late, but Bieber's impending return is a light at the end of the tunnel. Now it'll just be a matter of if the Guardians will be out of contention when he returns.