CLEVELAND — Guardians ace Shane Bieber will have season-ending Tommy John elbow surgery, a major blow to the team and the 2020 Cy Young winner.
Bieber, who missed several months last season with elbow issues, experienced pain following an Opening Day start in Oakland and again this week against Seattle. The right-hander underwent imaging tests, and reconstructive surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament was recommended by several doctors.
The recovery time can take up to 16 months following the surgery.
“He’s devastated by it,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said on a Zoom call. “He feels as though he is 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, what it means to be a great teammate and a great leader.”
Bieber pitched 12 scoreless innings with 20 strikeouts in his first two starts despite feeling pain in the elbow. Both he and the team had hoped it would calm down, but the discomfort only worsened.
“He really put in a ton of work this winter and throughout spring training, and we all felt he was on a good path to stay healthy and contribute for the balance of the season,” Antonetti said. “But ultimately when he got back into games and faced the stress of the major league environment, it just was too much for him.”
Bieber returned to Cleveland this week to be examined and made the decision to have the surgery on Friday, Antonetti said.
Bieber is entering his final year under contract with the Guardians, who are off to a 6-2 start under first-year manager Stephen Vogt heading into Saturday’s game in Minnesota.
Antonetti said Dr. Keith Meister will perform Bieber’s surgery in Dallas in the near future.
The 28-year-old Bieber is 62-32 with a 3.22 ERA in 134 career starts with Cleveland. He led the majors in wins, ERA and strikeouts in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Bieber’s injury is the latest for Cleveland’s pitching staff. Reliever Trevor Stephan recently had Tommy John surgery, and Gavin Williams has been sidelined since spring training with elbow soreness but should be fine.
The Guardians are hoping to contend in the American League Central and will need others to step up with Bieber no longer anchoring the staff.
“It’s impossible to replace a pitcher and a teammate and a leader like Shane Bieber, so I don’t think we have that expectation,” Antonetti said. “Shane has been an incredible individual contributor and a great leader and presence on our team that has impacted the development of other people, so I wouldn’t want to minimize the loss.
“At the same time, we are a resilient group and 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.”