Tanner Bibee believes this is the biggest lesson he's learned since debuting with the Cleveland Guardians.
Tanner Bibee has only been pitching in the big leagues for three seasons, but he’s already been throughout to much as a pitcher. The Cleveland Guardians starter came on to the scene and looked like an All-Star in 2023, finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting, but has hit a few roadblocks since then.
Bibee made an appearance on MLB Network over the weekend and talked about what he’s learned about himself heading into his fourth year in the big leagues.
“I feel like every year kind of brings a new challenge. I feel like first year went relatively smooth, once I kind of settled in. Second year was a little bumpier, and third year was a little more bumpier,” admitted Bibee.
In all of that up-and-down, Bibee has learned what he must do to stay in the Majors: continue to develop and adjust to stay ahead of hitters.
“I feel like it's just figuring out what is - how to keep getting better, how to keep adapting. I feel like that's the hardest thing in baseball. With a bunch of people coming in and saying, it's not necessarily easy to get here, but it's harder to stay.”
Jun 26, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians starting pitcher Tanner Bibee (28) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn ImagesIt’s interesting to hear Bibee talking about the need to adapt and stay ahead of the curve on many things. To his credit, he has done a nice job of mixing it up throughout the years.
Bibee has certainly made adjustments to his gameplan since making his debut three years ago. He used to throw his four-seam fastball over 40 percent of the time, but that diminished 28 percent last year in favor of more breaking offspeed pitches.
Bibee also introduced a sweeper to his arsenal in 2024, like many other pitchers across baseball that season, and started throwing his sinker much more often.
Even though Bibee didn’t have the outcome he was largely hoping for in 2025, there are still some underlying stats to show he could be in for a big bounce-back year, especially if he keeps refining his pitch mix and gameplan to keep hitters on their toes.
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