叠鲍贵贵础尝翱鈥Shane Bieber could not have gotten this chapter of his career off to a better start.
The newest Blue Jays pitcher, still rehabbing from April 2024 Tommy John surgery, made his organizational debut in Buffalo on Sunday. He threw 62 pitches over five innings for the Triple-A Bisons and allowed two runs on six hits, with a walk and six strikeouts, against the Syracuse Mets.
Shane Bieber looking sharp 馃憖
鈥 Minor League Baseball (@MiLB)
In his first start as a member of the ' organization, the rehabbing right-hander racks up six punchouts over five strong innings for the .
Bieber’s first pitch of the day was a 93.4-m.p.h. fastball on the outside corner for a strike to Jos茅 Az贸car, who has played 228 big-league games. Next, a swinging strike with another heater, then a swing-and-miss slider for strike three.
The right-hander followed by fanning Luke Ritter on three pitches, finishing off the right-handed hitter with a changeup, then got ahead of Jared Young with a fastball at 94.1 m.p.h.
Seven pitches, seven strikes. An immaculate inning was within sight for the two-time all-star to begin his days as a Blue Jay, albeit in the minors.
“I was going for it,” Bieber said after the game. “We called a backdoor cutter to Young and I just had to throw it down the middle. He had a base hit up the middle, put a good swing on it, but I was definitely going for the hat (trick).”
Except you can’t get away with throwing down the middle to a good Canadian kid, and Young聽鈥 from Prince George, B.C.聽鈥 turned it around. Bieber then popped up Joey Meneses to end an inning in which he threw 13 pitches, a dozen for strikes.
Despite a leadoff walk that came around to score in the second inning (thanks to a balk) and a solo home run by Ritter in the third, it was a successful Sunday for the 30-year-old Bieber, who hasn’t thrown a pitch in the majors in 16 months.
“I continue to progress and feel better throughout my outings and in between innings,” said Bieber. “I was happy with how today finished up, all in all.”
Bieber, who won a Cy Young Award with the Cleveland Guardians in the COVID-shortened 2020 season and was MVP of the all-star game the year before, didn’t love giving up the home run聽鈥 though he did give credit to Ritter for putting a good swing on a fastball that was awfully close to middle-middle聽鈥 but it’s more about health than results at this point.
“I’ve got to keep things in perspective,” Bieber said. “It’s been a whirlwind of a 72 to 100 hours.鈥
Star sports columnist Gregor Chisholm joins the “Deep Left Field” podcast to review the Jays’
A whirlwind, indeed. Seventy-five hours before Bieber聽threw his first pitch Sunday, he was an Akron RubberDuck, having thrown four strong innings for the Guardians’ Double-A franchise in his fourth rehab start but first above A-ball.
Thursday morning, he learned he’d been traded by the only organization he’d ever known, the one that drafted him in 2016 and developed him into, when healthy, one of the best pitchers in the game.
He was in 色色啦 on Friday, drove to Buffalo Saturday evening and was on the mound at Sahlen Field on Sunday, flirting with an immaculate inning in the first.
Bieber threw 25 fastballs among 62 pitches, 15 at 93 m.p.h. or better and topping out at 94.4. In his Cy Young season, he averaged 94.1 m.p.h., so he was happy with his velocity.
“It’s nice to feel good,” Bieber said. “I trust that it’s going to be there and it has been there, so I feel great. I just need to continue to execute and refine some things, but all in all I think I’m in a really good spot ... I wasn’t overthrowing and the velocity was holding.”
His catcher, also making his organizational debut, agreed with that assessment.
Brandon Valenzuela was traded to the Jays from the San Diego Padres on deadline day, straight up for infielder Will Wagner. He caught Bieber after having spent the entirety of this season in Double-A.
“He was amazing,” said Valenzuela. “Change-up was gross. Slider was really good. Fastball location pretty much pinpoint. I caught (two-time Cy Young winner Blake) Snell, I caught (five-time all-star Yu) Darvish, they’re all pretty good, but I’ve never seen something like that.”
Bieber wouldn’t say whether he needed another rehab start 鈥斅爓hich would be Friday in Worcester, Mass. 鈥 and suggested it would be a collective decision with the Jays staff. But given that the Jays have days off on Thursday and the following Monday, making a six-man rotation difficult for now, odds are he’ll stay down for at least one more.
Whenever it does happen, Bieber feels he’ll be ready. On Sunday, he took a solid step on what’s been a long road back to the big leagues.
“I was thinking about that (Saturday),” said Bieber, who spent that afternoon in 色色啦 watching the Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2. “Just enjoying the game in the dugout, getting to know my teammates. Everybody seems fantastic. They’ve welcomed me with open arms.
“I definitely want to go out there and perform my best, for them and for the city.”
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