How Shane Bieber Performed in his Rehab Assignment

After a lengthy rehab process that included over a year of recovery and pitching with two teams’ Minor League affiliates, Shane Bieber is ready to return. The former Cy Young winner will return to the Majors as a Blue Jay during the weekend of August 22. And, Bieber did a lot to prove that he can still work at a high level.

As far as the peripherals were concerned, Shane Bieber excelled. Between his stints in the Guardians and Blue Jays’ farm teams, the right-hander struck out 37 over 29 frames with only three walks. On that alone, it was a smashing success.

But looking deeper into the numbers, Bieber’s fastball looked more intimidating. The induced break was back (17.0” IVB) to roughly where it was two seasons ago. His four-seamer averaged 92.8 MPH amongst recorded Statcast data, a number we haven’t seen from him since the 2021 season.

Granted, Bieber has never been a flamethrower. The former Cy Young winner generally uses that pitch to work hitters up in the zone with that carrying action. And, out of the 44 swings it induced, just two resulted in a whiff (4.5% Whiff%).

Still, the vitals on the pitch were good to see from an analytical point of view.

What netted Bieber a lot of misses was the slider that’s helped propel him to success for years. A 39% Whiff% was recorded off Bieber’s slider, showing that hard, late movement that one would like to see out of that pitch.