Tanner Bibee is having a down season. While he's thrown a team-high 154 2/3 innings, the Cleveland Guardians right-hander has a 4.77 ERA and a 4.69 FIP, as well as a career-low 20.6% strikeout rate. Over the previous two seasons -- his first two in the majors -- he'd tossed 315 2/3 innings with a 3.25 ERA, a 3.54 FIP, and a 25.3% strikeout rate. Something has clearly been amiss.
Bibee believes that he knows what the issue has been; how to right himself during the season is the question at hand. With less than a month left on the schedule and the Guardians still holding out hope for October baseball -- their playoff odds are a faint, but not impossible, 4.6% -- Bibee can't wait until the winter to get right. Much for that reason, he worked diligently in a bullpen session on Wednesday afternoon at Fenway Park, after which he expounded on his efforts to return to what he's been at his best.
-- -- --
David Laurila: We talked a few days after you made your big league debut (in April 2023). How do you compare to the pitcher you were then?
Tanner Bibee: "Stuff-wise?"
Laurila: Stuff. How you approach the game. You're two years older and presumably smarter now.
Bibee: "That doesn't always mean better. It's been an interesting first couple of years in the big leagues. I obviously had a lot of success in 2023. I had some success last year after a rough month or two. This year has definitely been... I've been through different movement patterns. In '23, I came in with a really high slot, then kind of slowly got it back down."
Laurila: Purposefully, or did that happen organically?
Bibee: "On purpose. I've always been like a 6'2" to a 6'4". That was the honey hole, release height-wise. So, when I came in it was really high. I'd kind of been chasing Trackman numbers, but then I kind of figured things out and moved it back down, kind of got back to myself.
"Then, last year, I was trying to figure out how to get the four-seam back to where it was. I did some stuff that put some Band-Aids on it, and while it didn't really make my fastball much better, it did create some unique angles and stuff like that. This year I've been a little bit in between, and the movements haven't been as good. Basically, I'm trying to get back to what I was like in July, August of 2023, getting back to those movement patterns."
Laurila: It sounds like more than just your release height or arm slot; it's the entire delivery...
Bibee: "Oh yeah. We're big proponents of, 'The body affects the ball, which affects the result.' I was actually looking at it this morning, trying to do a little deep dive into my body, trying to figure it out -- trying to see with my own eyes -- what's going on."
Laurila: This was looking at film?
Bibee: "Yes, looking at the pitcher open view, third base side. The depth I'm getting on my back leg right now is way up. I think that's affecting it, because it's not like my arm slot is much different. The height is higher, but that's just because my body in general is higher. I got in the pen today and changed it up a little bit. It worked out really well."
Laurila: I'm trying to wrap my head around what you're explaining. When you were at your best in 2023, it was with a higher release height?
Bibee: "So, my arm angle was higher, but my center of mass was lower. The release height was still 6'3", 6'4" when I was doing really well. But then, my... I actually checked this morning on Statcast, the arm angle thing. My first year, I was 59 [degrees], last year I was 51, and now I'm 54. It's one of those things where my center of mass got higher last year, but my arm angle was lower, so it kind of counteracted. My shoulder started hurting pretty bad, so I was like, 'OK, I need to get this back up to a more natural thing.' But then my center of mass was higher, I raised my release height, and that changed the angles of everything."
Laurila: How has your stuff been impacted?
Bibee: "I've thrown fastballs this year anywhere from 12 to 20 [inches of vertical ride]. I'm usually sitting around the 13-14 range, whereas in 2023, I was mostly 16. And then my release was like 6'3", whereas this year it's been like 6'7". Those four inches make a really big difference visually to the batter, especially when every inch, or every centimeter, is the difference between a strikeout or a foul ball. My body is also getting out too far, rushing out too far. I'm not getting into my back leg. It's super basic, yet super difficult. I'm trying to figure out the honey hole for that."
Laurila: Are you losing spin efficiency, maybe getting more cut-ride than you'd ideally want?
Bibee: "I was always a cut-ride guy. If you look back, it was probably like 16 [vertical] and three, four, or five [horizontal]. Now, whenever I go glove side, I get 16-17 and four. But when I go arm side... I mean, in my last outing I was getting some 13-10s. That's not good."
Laurila: What about your velocity and command?
Bibee: "The average [velocity] isn't getting affected much, but the top is. In 2023, and even last year, I touched 97, 98, 99 once or twice [in a game] pretty regularly. This year it's been a lot of 94-95s, a couple 96s, and even a couple of 93s. My overall average is maybe down a little bit, but it's not too bad.
"I feel like I've figured out how to command the ball with the stuff numbers not being as good. I just don't have as much room for error as, say, a Garrett Crochet. When he throws his heater, he has way more room for error because his stuff numbers, and the angles he creates, are a lot better than mine. For me to get someone out with my fastball right now, I need to dot it."
Laurila: And what about your secondaries?
Bibee: "Not as much. I think the only difference there is that the strikeout numbers are down a little bit, because they don't have to respect the heater as much. Zoning me -- hitters planning against me -- they don't have to respect the heater at the top as much as they did in the past. That kind of what I'm trying to figure out, and I think I kind of did that today in the pen.
"Like I said, my center of mass has been a lot higher, raising the height, which visually makes the ball look flatter -- and in a bad way. If I can get my center of mass lower, I can almost... instead of like a carousel, I can pull my arm through like a Ferris wheel, but be lower to the ground so it looks like it has that... not like a Bryan Woo up-shoot, but closer to that up-shoot."
Laurila: Basically, you're trying to fix your delivery in season...
Bibee: "Yeah, and it's not fun. It's hard. Even so, I feel like I've pitched not terribly. But it has been a tough, transitional year for me. At this point, I'm just trying to stay healthy and make all of my starts. That's a pretty hard thing to do in the big leagues, be available all year. If I can do that, I'll be happy."