Matt Blake texted Cleveland Guardians pitcher Shane Bieber a conciliatory message over the weekend. As a member of the Cleveland player-development system in the 2010s, Blake aided Bieber¡¯s rise from college walk-on to American League Cy Young Award winner in 2020. For a time, Bieber represented the modern model for the manufacturing of a big-league ace, a player who added strength to his frame, velocity to his fastball and spin to his off-speed pitches as he ascended the ranks.
By the time Blake sent his text, though, Bieber had become a part of a troubling demographic: talented young pitchers who will spend this season as spectators. Two days after the Miami Marlins announced 20-year-old phenom Eury Perez would undergo Tommy John surgery, the Guardians disclosed that Bieber, 28, would need the same procedure. A recent examination of Atlanta Braves starter Spencer Strider, 25, revealed damage to his elbow¡¯s ulnar collateral ligament, which could result in his second Tommy John surgery. In New York, where Blake is now the Yankees¡¯ pitching coach, the team has lost its ace, Gerrit Cole, until June with elbow inflammation and one of its top relievers, Jonathan Loaisiga, to year-ending elbow surgery.
¡°As a pitching coach trying to get through nine innings worth of pitching every night over 162 games,¡± Blake said, ¡°I¡¯m pretty worried.¡±
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