As of mid-May, eight starts into his season, Shane Bieber had a 3.81 ERA and 1.09 WHIP with 54 strikeouts in 49 2/3 innings, solid but less-than-thrilling numbers overall.
In his next start, on May 19, Bieber hurled an absolute masterpiece against the Orioles, a complete-game, five-hit shutout with no walks and 15 strikeouts. That was the start of a run that has seen the 24-year-old go 13-5 with a 3.06 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 198/26 K/BB ratio in 159 innings.
On the latest episode of the Rotoworld Baseball Podcast (and the last Tuesday episode of the season), Chris Crawford joins me to discern what we can take away from Bieber's breakout season — part of a bigger conversation including 10 of the most surprising performances from 2019. We also discuss Ketel Marte, Pete Alonso, Lucas Giolito and Mike Soroka, and what to expect from all of them going forward.
You can check out the full episode right here — and thanks for listening throughout the season: