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Shane Bieber Makes History for the Indians

Shane Bieber

Shane Bieber Continues to Soar

Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Shane Bieber is clearly the favorite for the American League Cy Young Award. Bieber entered play on Sunday sporting a 1.20 ERA over eight starts or 52 and two-thirds innings. Additionally, the 25-year old right-hander had accumulated a career-high 14.4 K/9 rate along with a 1.74 Fielding Independent Percentage (FIP).

Although Sunday’s start didn’t involve a complete game, it was still a pivotal one for Bieber. During his ninth outing for the 2020 season, he ended up making history. MLB Stats had that info on Twitter.

Besides the impressive 14.4 K/9 rate on the season, Bieber has amassed a total of 94 strikeouts to date. Sarah Langs of MLB.com provided some historical context behind those numbers for the righty.

 

More specifically to the Cleveland Indians franchise, Jason Catania also of MLB.com provided this nugget.

 

Hall of Famer Bob Feller was a phenomenal pitcher during his 18-year run with the team. Over that span, the right-hander won a Triple Crown Award, was named an All-Star on eight different occasions and finished in the Top 5 in Most Valuable Player Award voting five times. Furthermore, Feller pitched in a total of 570 games during his tenure in Cleveland posting a 3.25 ERA with 2,581 strikeouts and a 1.316 WHIP.

Just like Justin Bieber’s music once made the record charts, Shane Bieber is now doing the same. However, remember to never call him Justin under any circumstance! Anyways, let’s get back on track and discuss more impressive numbers involving Bieber.

Shane Bieber Continues His Domination

Bieber has been dominant against both left and right-handed hitters. Although, his numbers against lefties are out of this world good. So far, Bieber has a 0.89 ERA against lefties with 47 strikeouts and an Opponent Batting Average Against (OBAA) of .160. Against right-handers, Bieber has a 1.65 ERA with 47 strikeouts and an OBAA of .184.

Therefore, regardless of the batter that he is facing, Bieber knows how to rack up the strikeouts and get opposing hitters out. The best part is that considering he is 25, Bieber is only just reaching the periphery of his peak and there’s a chance that he could become even more impressive especially over a full 162-game season.

Now, although there is plenty of greatness involving Bieber, there is one specific area that he needs to focus on. That’s always the case with any position player or pitcher in the big leagues. As they say, no one is perfect! The one area for Bieber that could be a caveat is in regards to where he is in relation to the count while on the mound.

For example, when he is ahead in the count, he’s got a 1.25 ERA with a .110 OBAA. However, when Bieber falls behind in the count, he has a cumulative ERA of 2.20 with a .266 OBAA.

Final Thoughts

To say Shane Bieber was having a great season, would be an understatement. He is having an outstanding year and is the reason why the Indians are where they are in the American League Central standings. Now, Bieber’s next goal will be proving himself in the postseason. Everyone already knows what he can do during the regular season, but the postseason is a whole different animal. However, based on the results so far this year, there’s a very good chance that Bieber will thrive regardless of how big of a stage he pitches on.

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Chris Larson

Chris Larson

Hello Everyone! My name is Chris and I am aspiring to work in baseball someday as a professional writer or front office executive. Currently, I work in Human Resources and am attending graduate school for an MBA in Project Management. Outside of work and school, I am a student of the game of baseball, enjoy watching hockey and basketball, love writing, weight lifting and working out, listening to music, and reading about history and science related topics. Additionally, I am the founder and main admin of the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram group Baseball Fans of America.

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