'Devastated' Guardians star Shane Bieber facing Tommy John surgery
Apr. 6—Shane Bieber's 2024 season, and maybe his career with the Guardians, has come to a screeching halt.
Bieber needs Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, the Guardians announced the morning of April 6. The news came as a shock because he threw six shutout innings against the Oakland A's in the season opener and followed that with six shutout innings against the Seattle Mariners.
Bieber missed more than two months in 2023 with an elbow injury. But he returned to make two starts in late September. He pitched six innings against the Cincinnati Reds in his final start of 2023, struck out seven, walked none and allowed one earned run in a 4-3 Guardians victory.
"First and foremost, we feel for Shane," Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said on a Zoom call. "Shane has done everything possible in his power to get back and pitch to help our team.
"Those efforts extend back to last year to the work he put in in the rehab process. He put in a ton of work in the offseason and spring training. We all felt he was on a good path to stay healthy and contribute through the balance of the season. Ultimately, when he got back into games and faced the stress of the Major League environment, it was too much for him."
The injury is to Bieber's proximal ulnar collateral ligament. Bieber had no symptoms in spring training. But after the start against the A's he felt more soreness than typical and wasn't recovering as quickly as he normally would, Antonetti said. The problem grew worse as he was pitching against the Mariners.
"The pain never went away," Antonetti said. "He somehow gritted through that and, obviously, performed extremely well. But he did it through an extraordinary amount of pain. The next day it was even worse. The inflammation was even more painful. At that point we decided we needed to get it checked out."
An MRI and further tests confirmed Bieber re-injured the elbow. Bieber was examined by Guardians team physicians. The diagnosis was confirmed by Drs. Keith Meister and Neal ElAttrache. ElAttrache is the Los Angeles-based doctor who performed surgery on Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson in November to repair Watson's fractured right shoulder socket.
No date for Bieber's surgery has been set. The normal recovery time from Tommy John surgery is 12 to 18 months.
The news was so fresh that Antonetti shared it with the media before Guardians manager Stephen Vogt had the chance to inform his team. Bieber was examined by doctors in Cleveland and is not with the team in Minnesota.
"He's devastated," Antonetti said. "He feels as though he's letting a lot of people down. And I tried to reassure Shane that couldn't be further from the truth because he embodies what it means to be a professional and what it means to be a great teammate and a great leader."
Bieber, 28, will be a free agent in November unless he signs a new contract with the Guardians. He is 62-32, all with the Indians/Guardians, since making his debut on May 31, 2018. He won the American League Cy Young Award in the COVID-shortened 2020 season when he went 8-1 with a 1.63 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 77 1/3 innings.
Now the Guardians must find a starter to replace Bieber in the rotation.
Gavin Williams "is still weeks from getting into Major League games, so that's not on the near-term horizon," Antonetti said. Williams is recovering from right elbow soreness.
Xzavion Curry and Ben Lively, currently pitching with the Triple-A Columbus Clippers to build up their innings, are candidates for a fifth starter.
"It's impossible to replace a pitcher and a teammate and a leader like Shane Bieber," Antonetti said. "At the same time, we are a resilient group. We found ways to overcome obstacles and injuries in the past and I believe that the group that we have will be able to come together and find a way to help us continue to win games, but it certainly will be harder to do without the health of Shane Bieber."
Bieber was scheduled to start the home opener April 8 against the White Sox. Left-hander Logan Allen will make the start instead.
