The Blue Jays traded prospect Khal Stephen to acquire right-hander Shane Bieber from the Cleveland Guardians. Bieber was a unanimous 2020 Cy Young winner and the first MLB Triple Crown winner since 2006. Bieber returned from Tommy John surgery and has made two starts, totaling 11 1/3 innings with a 2.38 ERA and 15 strikeouts. Two of his three earned runs have been solo homers. In his first start he threw six innings with nine strikeouts and one earned run. Advanced metrics show career-high location+, increased fastball and cutter velocities, and elevated breaking-ball RPMs.
After two starts this season, the 30-year-old has been as advertised. In 11 1/3 innings, Bieber has a 2.38 ERA with 15 strikeouts and one hit by pitch. The righty's one flaw has been the long ball. Two of his three earned runs have come from solo home runs. In Bieber's first start, he threw six innings against the Miami Marlins, striking out nine, and surrendering one earned run off two hits. The one earned run came off a Javier Sanoja solo home run.
Hembo, a statistician for ESPN, went on to say that Bieber's first MLB start since having Tommy John surgery brought on career-highs. The righty posted the best location+ grade (124) of his entire eight-year career, his four-seam fastball was the fastest (92.7 mph) he's thrown since August 2022, his cutter (88.2 mph) was the quickest he's thrown since May 2022, the average breaking ball RPM (2,624) was the highest since April 2021, and the most impressive stat is th
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