Bieber: Don’t blame pitch clock for injuries
Cleveland Guardians right-hander Shane Bieber refused to ride the current of criticism pointing to the pitch clock as the reason for an increase in season-ending arm injuries.
Bieber, one of several prominent power pitchers injured in the first two weeks of the season, decided to have Tommy John surgery following two dominant starts, with 20 strikeouts in 12 scoreless innings.
He’s also in the final year of his contract in Cleveland.
“I’m not ready to say that that’s the reason that it happened,” Bieber said of whether the pitch clock helped cause his injury. “... It’s hard to say what’s going on in the inner workings of the elbow and the arm.”
Braves ace Spencer Strider has UCL damage in his right elbow and is scheduled for more testing after the initial results brought red flags.
“It wasn’t good,” manager Brian Snitker confirmed Sunday.
Bieber, the Marlins’ Eury Perez and Oakland’s Trevor Gott are among the hard-throwers facing uncertain futures because of arm injuries.
MLBPA executive director Tony Clark directly blamed the advent of the pitch clock last season for the increase in elbow issues for pitchers.
MLB fired back quickly, claiming “empirical evidence” and historical trends are entirely ignored in Clark’s assertion.
The 28-year-old Bieber had been offered a longterm deal by the Guardians but was making a bet on himself entering his free agency season.
“It’s unfortunate the timing of everything,” Bieber said.
“As athletes, you can’t control some of these things. So we do what we can. We stay positive.
“I’ve got an amazing support system with my family, with my teammates, with everybody around here.
“I’m excited to keep my head down, move forward, and it’s easy to keep things in perspective. Things could be a lot worse, I’ll put it that way.”
OBITUARY
A member of the 1969 Mets: A longtime New York Mets catcher and part of their 1969 World Series championship team, Jerry Grote, died Sunday due to respiratory failure after a heart procedure in Austin, Texas, his family announced. He was 81.
Grote, known especially for his defense, played 16 seasons, 12 for the Mets, before serving as the backup catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 197778.
In 1981, his final year in the majors, he played in 22 games for the Kansas City Royals and two for the Dodgers.
After seemingly coming out of nowhere to win the World Series over Baltimore in five games, Grote and the Mets also reached the Series in 1973, falling in seven games to the Oakland Athletics. The Dodgers won the National League pennant in 197778, but fell to the New York Yankees in six games each time.
In a statement released by the Mets, Ed Kranepool, who spent his entire 18-year career with the team, called Grote “the best defensive catcher in the NL when he played. Johnny Bench once told me, ‘If he was on the Reds, I would be playing third base.’”
Grote, a two-time AllStar, had a career .252 batting average with 39 home runs and 404 RBI.
New York Boston Baltimore Tampa Bay Toronto Central
Cleveland Detroit Kansas City Minnesota Chicago West
Texas
Los Angeles Seattle Houston Oakland
East
Atlanta Philadelphia New York Washington Miami Central
Pittsburgh Milwaukee Chicago Cincinnati St. Louis West
8 7 5 5 4 W
7 6 6 3 1 W
6 5 4 3 3
6 4 3 3 1 W
8 6 6 5 5 W
— — 1 — 21⁄2 1 3 11⁄2 4 21⁄2 GB WCGB
—
1
11⁄2
3 2 6 5 GB WCGB
— —
— 1 21⁄2 31⁄2 31⁄2
— — 21⁄2 2 31⁄2 3 31⁄2 3 6 51⁄2 GB WCGB
— — 1 — 11⁄2 — 21⁄2 1 3 11⁄2 GB WCGB
Los Angeles San Diego Arizona San Francisco Colorado
TUESDAY AMERICAN LEAGUE
Baltimore (Burnes 1-0) at Boston (Bello 1-0),2:10
Chi. White Sox (Soroka 0-1) at Cleveland (Allen 2-0),6:10
Seattle (Kirby 1-1) at Toronto (Bassitt 0-2),7:07
Houston at Kansas City (Ragans 0-1),7:40 Oakland (Wood 0-1) at Texas,8:05
Tampa Bay (Civale 1-1) at L.A. Angels (Sandoval 1-1),9:38
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Milwaukee (Ross 0-0) at Cincinnati (Montas 2-0),6:40
N.Y. Mets (Houser 0-0) at Atlanta (Lopez 0-0),7:20
Philadelphia (Wheeler 0-1) at St. Louis (Thompson 0-2),7:45
Arizona (Kelly 1-0) at Colorado (Quantrill 0-1),8:40
Washington (Gray 0-2) at S.F. (Harrison 1-1),9:45
Chi. Cubs at San Diego (Musgrove 1-1) ,10:05
INTERLEAGUE
Miami (Luzardo 0-1) at N.Y. Yankees (Cortes Jr. 0-1),6:05
Detroit (Olson 0-0) at Pittsburgh (Keller 0-1),6:40
L.A. Dodgers (Paxton 1-0) at Minnesota (Ober 0-1),7:40
8 5 4 4 2
2 3 4 5 6 L
2 3 4 4 8 L
3 4 6 7 7
2 5 6 6 9 L
2 2 3 4 5 L
4 7 6 6 8
.800 .700 .556 .500 .400
Pct
.778 .667 .600 .429 .111
Pct
.667 .556 .400 .300 .300
.750 .444 .333 .333 .100
Pct
.800 .750 .667 .556 .500
Pct
.667 .417 .400 .400 .200
MONDAY
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Seattle at Toronto
Houston at Texas
Tampa Bay at L.A. Angels
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Milwaukee at Cincinnati
N.Y. Mets at Atlanta Philadelphia at St. Louis Arizona at Colorado
Chicago Cubs at San Diego Washington at San Francisco
INTERLEAGUE
Miami at N.Y. Yankees
Detroit at Pittsburgh
L.A. Dodgers at Minnesota
SUNDAY
AMERICAN LEAGUE
N.Y. Yankees 8, Toronto 3 Oakland 7, Detroit 1
Kansas City 5, Chi. White Sox 3 Boston 12, L.A. Angels 2 Houston 3, Texas 1
Cleveland at Minnesota, ppd.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Miami 10, St. Louis 3
Washington 3, Philadelphia 2 Atlanta 5, Arizona 2
N.Y. Mets 3, Cincinnati 1
San Francisco 3, San Diego 2 Chi. Cubs 8, L.A. Dodgers 1
INTERLEAGUE
Pittsburgh 3, Baltimore 2 Milwaukee 12, Seattle 4
Tampa Bay 3, Colorado 2
— 1 21⁄2 31⁄2 31⁄2
— 3 3 3 5
— 21⁄2 21⁄2 21⁄2 41⁄2