The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Bieber won’t rest on last year’s success
Indians’ staff ace motivated by his poor performance against Yankees in playoffs
Shane Bieber is the essence of Cali Cool.
He is as laid back as a Sunday picnic on a beach near his hometown of Laguna Hills with nothing to do but hang with friends, eat, drink and watch the sun dip over the Pacific Ocean.
Bieber is also the Indians’ ace and the best pitcher in the American League with the 2020 Cy Young Award to prove it. He will be on the mound in the bottom of the first inning April 1 when the Tribe opens the 2021 season in Detroit.
Bieber led the Major Leagues in victories (eight), ERA (1.63) and strikeouts — the pitching triple crown — last season.
Knowing he has the Cali Cool mentality, and knowing he seems to have everything figured out at age 25, just biding his time until he can strike it big in free agency in 2025, it is fair to wonder how he avoids taking his success for granted.
Simple, he said. If ever over the last six months he even thought about hitting the cruise control button on his career, a louder thought drowned that one out.
“I have to continue to be me and myself,” Bieber said in a Zoom call from spring training in Goodyear, Ariz. “I always try to go about things with some humility. I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder, so there’s plenty to prove.
“I think one silver lining is, the playoffs working out the way they did last year, I still have a lot to prove and a lot to work on and a lot to strive for. That was my driving force in the offseason.”
Bieber’s 2020 regular season, though only two months long because the novel coronavirus pandemic shortened it to 60 games, was close to perfection, hence him being a unanimous choice as the A.L. Cy Young Award recipient.
But the last game he pitched before heading to those Pacific Ocean beaches to decompress before starting his offseason regimen was a disaster. He started against the Yankees in the opener of a best-of-three wildcard series and gave up seven earned runs in 4 2/3 innings. It was the worst possible time to have his worst game. The Indians were swept from the playoffs the next night.
Bieber said the Yankees pounded his slider, so he worked on improving that pitch in the offseason to go with his curveball and fastball. He also worked on his change-up in spring training.
Bieber had a mild bout of COVID-19 at the start of spring training. He wasn’t sharp in his first couple Cactus League starts. Manager Terry Francona was not concerned. Sure enough, Bieber was more like the 2020 model of himself in his March 21 outing when he struck out six during four scoreless innings..
“His progress is pretty much like you’d want to map it out,” Francona said. “His first (spring training) start, he didn’t use all his pitches, even though he had a couple men on (base). He used maybe two pitches. Then he incorporated his third pitch (the slider. in his second start) and then he incorporated his
changeup.
“His last outing, that was his best fastball. He’s building up like a veteran should. He’s beyond his years. That’s for sure.”
Bieber has come a long way from the day he was a walk-on at University of California, Santa Barbara. He earned a scholarship as a sophomore, pitched one more season and was selected by the Indians in the fourth round of the 2016 draft. He made his majorleague debut in 2018, going 11-5 as a rookie.
As successful as Bieber was in his rookie season, Topps referred to him as “Justin” — as in the singer Justin Bieber — on the back of Shane’s 2019 baseball card while extolling his 2018 endeavors: “Justin was particularly comfortable on the road where he went a team record 7-0 and was
undefeated in 11 starts.” The front of the card, at least, correctly referred to him as Shane Bieber.
Then there was the 2019 All-Star game, which was played in Cleveland. Bieber was a late addition to the American League team. He pitched the fifth inning, struck out the side and received the Ted Williams MVP Award. The only reason he was added to the All-Star team was because left-handed pitcher Mike Minor of the Rangers was scratched from the lineup because appearing in the game interfered with his normal pitching rotation.
Overlooked initially when he graduated from Laguna Hills High School in 2013, overlooked for the 2019 All-Star game until an opening was created by Minor bowing out, mistakenly identified by Topps —
no one is confused about Shane Bieber any longer.
On opening day just two years ago, Bieber was fifth in the Indians rotation behind Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco and Mike Clevinger. Now Bieber is the only one of that group that remains.
Bieber has taken on the leadership role that belonged to Kluber exclusively from 2014 until Kluber was traded in December 2019. Kluber suffered a fractured right forearm on a come-backer on May 1, 2019 in what turned out to be his last start for the Indians.
Even though he couldn’t physically pitch that season, Kluber was still the emotional leader of the pitching staff because of his focus and work ethic.
Kluber was 27 when he took that leadership role. Now that job belongs to
Bieber. He is the ace of a far less experienced rotation with Zach Plesac, Aaron Civale, Triston McKenzie, Cal Quantrill and Logan Allen following his lead.
“I’ve always said that’s something that I embrace,” Bieber said. “I’m not uncomfortable in a leadership position whatsoever. But it’s also fun. I’m just going to continue to be myself and try to be the best example I can be for whoever may be watching.
“We’re all very familiar with each other. We’re all really good friends, first and foremost, and that translates into just being good teammates and good competitors as well. Looking at the rotation, specifically, we have a lot of guys from the 2015 and ’16 drafts. That’s a lot of young arms out there that have a diverse portfolio of talents.
“We continually pick each others’ brains and tell each other what we see. Whether it’s an experienced staff or an inexperienced staff, I feel like we can still provide the same things for each other and that’s competitiveness, continuing to push each other and pull in the same direction.”
Bieber says he would like to sign a long-term extension with the Indians. He is making $679,700 this year.
Bieber is arbitration eligible in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
The chances the Indians could afford him even at his second arbitration hearing in 2023 seem slim if he comes close in the next two years to matching the way he pitched in 2019 and 2020. To paraphrase Indians owner Paul Dolan talking about Francisco Lindor a couple years ago, knowing the Indians would be trading the All-Star shortstop because they couldn’t afford to keep him, enjoy watching Bieber while you can.