Shane Bieber's second rehab start on Thursday brings hope for Guardians' rotation

CLEVELAND (AP) — Shane Bieber will make his second rehab start on Thursday with the possibility of the 2020 American League Cy Young winner rejoining the Cleveland Guardians rotation by late June or early July.

The right-hander — who had Tommy John surgery on his right elbow last April — is scheduled to start for the Double-A Akron RubberDucks after throwing 2 1/3 scoreless innings in an Arizona Complex League game on Saturday. Bieber, who turned 30 on Saturday, faced nine batters, allowed one hit and struck out five.

Chris Antonetti, Cleveland's president of baseball operations, was pleased that Bieber was averaging 93 mph on his fastball.

“It was really fun to watch Shane just get back out in a competitive setting,” Antonetti said before the Guardians faced the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday. “He’s worked on adding some complementary pitches or changing the way some of his pitch profiles look. So his changeup in particular had maybe more depth than it’s had in the past.”

After spending most of his time at the team's spring training complex in Goodyear, Arizona, Bieber is likely to remain in Northeast Ohio for the remainder of his rebab. The Guardians top affiliates are in Columbus, Akron and Eastlake, Ohio, which are all less than a two-hour drive from Progressive Field.

The plan is for Bieber to throw up to 50 pitches again on Thursday before ramping things up.

With the two-time All-Star likely to pitch every five days, it is possible his return to the rotation could occur between June 25 through 29, when the Guardians have a homestand against the Toronto Blue Jays and St. Louis Cardinals.

“We have a pretty good plan in place, but the one thing we want to make sure, especially with Tommy John, is that we’re really deliberate in helping him get back to a point where once he returns, he’s able to pitch for the balance of the season without issues,” Antonetti said.

Bieber's return — whenever it is — should provide a lift for a rotation that has struggled the first two-plus months of the season. Guardians' starters went into Sunday's game with the fourth-highest ERA in the American League (4.25).

Tanner Bibee is 4-5 with a 3.86 ERA while Ben Lively will have Tommy John surgery later this week.

Bieber agreed to a one-year, $14 million contract last fall with a $16 million player option for 2026.

Cleveland (31-26) enters Sunday six games behind Detroit in the AL Central, but has one of the three wild-card spots.

“I think we’re right in the mix. I think what we’re seeking to do is be a little bit more consistent in all areas of the game, whether that’s starting pitching, our bullpen, defense, offense, all of those areas," Antonetti said.

"I think we’ve seen periods of what we’re capable of doing, but we feel like we still have our best baseball yet in front of us and that’s part of something that goes along with being a young team.”

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