Guardians starting pitcher Tanner Bibee looks to Sonny Gray as example

The mound can be a place of isolation, especially for a pitcher who happens to be their own worst critic. Guardians starting pitcher Tanner Bibee is a prime example of this, and it's something he's openly talked about the last few years as he navigated his progression through the major leagues, both in terms of his pitch repertoire and how he mentally handled the ebbs and flows of both good and bad outings. It's why he's looking to Sonny Gray as an example.

And it's why he's just trying to give himself a break, sometimes. "I feel like a lot of progress is going to be super linear for me," Bibee said this spring. "Obviously when stuff's going good, the big innings are inherently smaller just because it's going better and you can handle it better.

But for me, what was happening so much was me racking my brain like, what do I need to do, what am I doing wrong? Instead of looking at what I was doing well in the moment and building off of that. " Tanner Bibee leaves Opening Day start with right shoulder inflammation Bibee was given the ball for the Guardians ' Opening Day game against the Mariners in Seattle on March 26, He left the start before the bottom of the sixth inning with right shoulder inflammation.

He appeared to show discomfort after he threw his final warmup pitch before the inning.. Before leaving the start, Bibee pitched five innings and gave up three runs on four hits. The right-hander walked two and struck out seven, helping the Guardians win 6-4 .