Inside Tanner Bibee’s Heartwarming Gender Reveal Moment on Friday Night

Tanner Bibee produced a really strong game for the Cleveland Guardians while on the mound on Friday night.

While most of the public conversation has centered on his gradual return to the elite form that once made him so highly touted, for Bibee and his inner circle, the focus was on his cleats, more specifically, the color of the laces.

When Bibee trotted out onto the diamond at Progressive Field, his brother Cameron and fiancée Kaylin looked on as they waited to see what color laces Bibee was wearing. If it was pink, they knew they were having a girl. If it was blue, they knew they were having a boy.

And once the camera panned over to Bibee, who finished the game with a strong five strikeouts and zero runs given up across six innings, the answer to what gender his brother's kid was revealed.

"He asked me, the second to last week of spring training or last week of spring training, and I looked at the code he sent me...and then got some pink stuff for it," Bibee said on what went into wearing pink laces on his cleats. "And yeah, they were on the cleats, and it was good. I'm happy for him."

That special moment was one that Bibee was nervous about messing up. He went on to say that there was a thought he may have read the code wrong, which certainly would have been an awkward conversation at the next family dinner.

"Yeah, I was kind of scared I read the report wrong," Bibee said. "But it was funny because when we were in Seattle, I had breakfast with my agent and my girlfriend, and he accidentally spilled the beans that it was a girl to her. And it was pretty funny. But it was fine that it was her.

"If it was anyone else, it wouldn’t have been bad. But the fact that it was her was okay."

Bibee was able to successfully pull off the reveal, even if his initial plan for the announcement didn't end up working out.

"I had to change it up a little bit," he said. "I tried to get some cleats, but they didn't get here in time, so I had to adjust with some shoelaces because you can't really do much as a pitcher."

With Bibee set to become an uncle for the first time, much of his mind will likely be on a new chapter forming in his life. However, with the Guardians amid an early-season battle for a spot atop the American League standings, he will be balancing both performing well on the diamond and supporting his family.