The Cleveland Guardians are locked in a tight battle in the American League Championship Series with the Tampa Bay Rays.
The ALCS is knotted at a game apiece in the best-of-seven series, and it returns to action on Thursday afternoon in Cleveland — in a game rescheduled to earlier in the day due to incoming inclement weather.
The Guardians will send Gavin Williams to the mound for that matchup coming off a heroic performance as Cleveland rallied past the Chicago White Sox in the ALDS.
On Wednesday, though, a different Guardians pitcher received a big bit of news from Major League Baseball — it was a positive day off from the series for Tanner Bibee.
Tanner Bibee News
MLB announced its Gold Glove finalists on Wednesday, and Bibee was on the list.
Each position in each league got three nominees, and so the AL pitcher nominee list included two other guys with Bibee.
The long-time ace Jacob deGrom, now with the Texas Rangers, was one of the other nominees.
And then the right-hander Jose Soriano, who started the year with the Angels and ended it with the Blue Jays, was the third nominee.
Interestingly, all three nominees are right-handed. One omission from the list is Yankees lefty Max Fried, who many regard as one of the best fielding pitchers in baseball but who dealt with injuries this season.
In the MLB.com announcement of the finalists, they included this blurb that seems to point to strong potential for Bibee’s chances:
“None of these three pitchers has taken home a Gold Glove Award, making for an exciting competition. Looking at the advanced metrics, Bibee has the edge in both Statcast’s Outs Above Average (+6) and Defensive Runs Saved (+5). Bibee’s and Soriano’s clubs, the Guardians and Blue Jays, have been heavily featured in this award this decade. Shane Bieber won for Cleveland in 2022, and José Berríos won for Toronto the following year.”
It is fascinating to see deGrom on this list at the end of a long career, but as far as the Guardians are concerned, they’ll be rooting for Bibee to get the Gold Glove.
Tanner Bibee Playoff Usage
On the field in this postseason, though, Bibee hasn’t gotten to use his glove quite as much in the regular season.
The Guardians used him out of the bullpen in the ALDS, and it’s likely that Bibee will again have to be flexible in the ALCS.
Cleveland used Foster Griffin as its Game 1 starter while Parker Messick and Gavin Williams recovered, which suggests Bibee remains in the bullpen for this series.
In the playoffs, it’s all hands on deck, so Bibee has to be ready whenever his name is called. And when he gets on the field, he’s doing so with an impressive glove.
Guardians’ Tanner Bibee Gets MLB News Announcement During ALCS