After a 507-day wait, Shane Bieber is set to make his return to a Major League Baseball mound.
Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider announced on Monday that Bieber is set to make his debut with the team on Friday in the team’s series opener against the Miami Marlins, according to Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling.
It will mark the first time Bieber has appeared in an MLB game for a team other than the Cleveland Guardians, the club that selected him in the fourth round of the 2016 MLB Draft.
Friday will serve as Bieber’s long-awaited return from Tommy John surgery
Bieber’s last big-league appearance came on April 2, 2024, during a game he started for the Guardians against the Seattle Mariners. He threw 83 pitches (including 55 strikes) in the contest, striking out nine batters and allowing six hits across six scoreless innings.
Bieber reported discomfort in his right elbow after the game. Four days later, the Guardians announced he would undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery, which would repair his torn ulnar collateral ligament in that elbow.
He returned to competitive action on May 31, when he pitched 2.1 scoreless innings with the Guardians’ rookie-ball affiliate in the Arizona Complex League. Bieber has since made seven starts across the Guardians’ and Blue Jays’ minor-league systems, pitching to a 1-1 record, 1.86 ERA and 0.86 WHIP while recording 37 strikeouts to just three walks across 29 innings pitched.
The Blue Jays acquired Bieber on the morning of the league’s July 31 trade deadline, offering pitching prospect Khal Stephen to the Guardians in exchange. Toronto currently possesses the best record in the American League (73-52) and sit five games ahead of the second-place Boston Red Sox in the AL East.
