Resurgent Tanner Bibee gives Guardians another advantage over rest of American League

On Wednesday, Tanner Bibee authored a stellar start for the Guardians. While it didn’t reach the heights of the two hit shutout he threw against the White Sox last September, he still managed to throw eight dazzling innings in an eventual Guardians win. 

While that win didn’t get added to his ledger thanks to all of the Guardians’ offense coming after he left the game, it was another example that Bibee seems to be turning a corner and re-capturing the ace form that he flashed in 2024. 

Tanner Bibee’s officially back to being an ace

Bibee’s start against Detroit marked his third straight strong start. Prior to his start against the Tigers, he had allowed one run in six innings against the Twins before tossing 6 2/3 strong innings against the Reds his last time out. 

After allowing 13 runs across 18 2/3 innings in his first four starts, Bibee has clearly turned things around (even if he hasn’t had enough run support to pick up his first win of the season). 

That theme played out again on Wednesday, as the Guardians failed to score a run across his eight innings of work before scratching one run across in the ninth inning and two in the tenth for a close win. 

Bibee entered Wednesday’s game getting just an average of 1.38 runs of support (the lowest mark in the bigs among pitchers with 40 innings), but he’s been able to keep the Guardians every start as of late thanks to a strong arsenal that fans saw a lot of in 2024. 

“That's been our kind of motif for the past three years,” Bibee said after the game, per MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins. “No matter how long we've been down, no matter how long we haven’t done anything, we can flip a switch at any point and put up some runs. That's the ‘down but never out’ aspect of it.”

And part of the reason the Guardians have been in a position where they only need one or two runs to win is because they have a strong starting rotation that’s posted a 3.66 ERA.

For the first month-plus of the season, that rotation was carried by Gavin Williams and Parker Messick while Bibee, Joey Cantillo and Slade Cecconi figured things out.

But that’s changed in May, as Bibee’s 3.28 ERA is the best among Guardians starters while Cecconi is third with a 3.68 ERA. 

Bibee’s still on pace to post career highs in hard-hit rate (45.5%) and walk rate (9%), but he’s been able to limit the damage from those deficiencies by leaning on his changeup, which has held hitters to a .081 batting average against. We’re seeing Bibee adjust in real time, and it’s led to success. 

With Bibee back to looking like himself, the Guardians have four above-average starters alongside Cecconi, who is also starting to turn things around. 

Even if it doesn’t seem like it on the days when Bibee pitches, the Guardians offense is in a much better spot than it was last season when their pitching staff carried them to an AL Central title. 

And Bibee’s return to form gives that pitching staff even more power. 

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