Tanner Bibee named Guardians' best pitcher

When it comes to who the Cleveland Guardians' best pitcher was in 2023, the answer was pretty obvious. A recent article appearing in Bleacher Report has named the best starter for each team, with Tanner Bibee receiving that distinction for the Guardians. 

Author Joel Reuter points out that injuries to Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie played a part in this decision. Additionally, Emmanuel Clase's 11 blown saves essentially eliminated him from contention for Cleveland's best pitcher.

Taking the injuries and Clase's inconsistency at the back end of the bullpen, in addition to the Guardians trading Aaron Civale and Bibee being better than the other two rookies in Cleveland's rotation, Bibee was an easy selection for this honor.

"The 24-year-old has outperformed fellow rookie standouts Gavin Williams and Logan Allen, and he has not allowed more than three earned runs since June 13. During that span, he's gone 8-2 with a 2.50 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 96 strikeouts in 93.2 innings over 16 starts."

- Joel Reuter on Tanner Bibee

As impressive as Bibee's rookie campaign has been, it came to an end prematurely due to unfortunate circumstances, as he was placed on the injured list with a hip injury earlier this month. Bibee will finish his first major league season with a 10-4 record, 2.98 ERA, 1.176 WHIP, and 8.9 strikeouts per nine with 141 in 142 innings. The 24 year old right hander would limit opponents to a .230/.295/.353 slash line while striking out nearly one quarter of the batters he faced (24.1%).

It appears that the Guardians have an anchor in their rotation for the forseeable future with Bibee. Being able to have that next young dependable starter who can come in dominate opponents more often than not will allow them to construct ther rotation accordingly. In fact, Bibee, along with Gavin Wlliams and Logan Allen, could end up being the top three starters in Cleveland's rotation sooner rather than later.