Overview:
Michael McGreevy still making his pitch to stick in the big leagues after making his third quality start on Thursday
Baseball has become the National Pause-time for three of the best players to ever grace the diamonds of Santa Barbara.
Shane Bieber, James McCann and Michael McGreevy were all forced into a timeout of their Major League Baseball careers during the first half of this season … and for completely different reasons.
But all three also have been gearing up for a promising second half.
If you must take a break, you might as well make it a working holiday.
Birthday Party
Bieber, who pitched UC Santa Barbara to the College World Series in 2016, had his birthday cake and ate it, too, on May 31.
The Cleveland Guardians All-Star turned 30 that day while taking his first turn on the mound in his recovery from the reconstructive elbow surgery he underwent in April 2024.
Bieber allowed just one hit with five strikeouts during a scoreless stint that lasted 2⅓ innings in an Arizona Complex League game.
His opponent — the rookie-ball-level ACL Rangers — weren’t exactly the New York Yankees.
The hum of his 94-mph fastball, however, showed his pitching coach that he’s getting up to speed.
“We’ve all been waiting patiently, and we’ve got to continue to be patient,” Carl Willis told reporters. “But so far, so good.
“He’s very disciplined and shares how he’s feeling and continues to work.”
Guardians’ infielder David Fry was struck by Bieber’s perfectionism when he caught some of his bullpens during his own rehab stint in Arizona.
“He’d throw 25 pitches and miss one spot, and he was like, ‘I’m all over the place today,’” Fry said. “I’m like, ‘No, you’re pretty good, dude.’”
Bieber has been better than good during his seven seasons in the big leagues. He has a win-loss record of 62-32, an earned-run average of 3.22, and 958 strikeouts with just 188 walks over 843 innings.
He was recognized as the American League’s best pitcher during the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened season of 2020 when he won the Cy Young Award.
Bieber was expected to be back pitching for Cleveland within the next few weeks, but some arm soreness has extended his rehabilitation.
Medical tests showed that his discomfort was “normal and not structural,” club officials said.
He said he was told to not “freak out” during the recovery process — that “if you get a setback, everybody gets at least one.”
“I was hoping to be that anomaly,” he admitted. “But at the same time, maybe it’s just part of the process.
“I’m trying to listen to my elbow and my body, and do what’s best for myself and the team in the long term.”
His wife, Kara, helped turn his year-long break into a productive, pregnant pause. She gave birth to their first child — a son they named Kav McClain Bieber — on March 14.
“It really helped push me through a lot of those harder points in rehab,” Bieber said. “Not being able to throw, still being in a sling, or just coming out of it and recognizing that this was a huge season of growth.
“Not just for me as an athlete, trying to get back onto the field as soon and as strong as possible, but as a husband and a soon-to-be father.”
Father’s Day
Nobody appreciated last week’s Father’s Day more than McCann, an All-CIF Southern Section catcher for Dos Pueblos High School in 2008.
His wife, Jessica, gave birth to their twin sons 10 weeks prematurely on Dec. 6, 2017.
Both Christian and Kane are now healthy, baseball-playing 7-year-olds, but their first few months were touch-and-go at Vanderbilt Children’s Neonatology Intensive Care Unit in Nashville.
“We spent almost two months at the hospital,” McCann recalled. “Having your sons born 10 weeks early, and spending seven-plus weeks in the NICU, does put life into perspective.
“You realize how precious life is.
“Just being Dad, coming home at night and seeing those two boys smiling whether you’ve gone 2-for-4 or 0-for-4, is a special feeling that puts everything in a whole different light.”
Some down time from his 10-year Major League career this summer did provide some unexpected family time on his 35th birthday of June 6.
McCann, who held out for a two-year contract while negotiating as a free agent last offseason, had to settle for a minor-league deal with the Atlanta Braves.
He’s been toiling for the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers ever since.
The silver lining to that came when the Stripers played a six-game series against the Nashville Sounds during the first week of June.
The Sounds’ First Horizon Park is located barely 20 miles from McCann’s home in Franklin, Tennessee.
Mother Nature even accommodated his birthday party when rain canceled the June 6 game.
McCann’s minor-league deal with the Braves does include a very significant caveat: a rolling opt-out clause.
If another club offers McCann a big-league job — a scenario that becomes more likely as the long summer proceeds — the Braves must either promote him to the Major Leagues or let him go to that other team.
Atlanta already has two solid catchers in veteran Sean Murphy and top rookie prospect Drake Baldwin.
“That was part of our agreement with the Braves, knowing their situation and knowing the potential of being blocked to the big leagues there,” McCann said.
“They respected the 10 years that I’ve accrued in service time and gave me the opportunity to opt out.”
His 41 games with the Stripers prove that he can still hit. His .297 batting average and six home runs rank second on the team.
He leads Gwinnett with 11 doubles, 30 RBI, .493 slugging percentage and an .874 OPS.
And he’s kept a McCann-do attitude even though he’s been left waiting for a big-league offer.
“I feel like I still have something to give to the game,” he said. “I wouldn’t be sitting in Triple A if I didn’t think that … if I didn’t think I could help a major-league team and perform at a major-league level.
“I’ve got my 10 years … I would go home and be a dad.”
On Sunday night, however, it was reported that McCann had signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks after catcher Gabriel Moreno went on the injured list.
Groundhog Day
McGreevy, ace of UCSB’s NCAA Regional team of 2021, appears stuck in a time loop.
He pitches well every time the St. Louis Cardinals summon him to the big leagues for a spot start …
… And then, each time, they promptly return him to their Triple-A farm club, the Memphis Redbirds, like a rented tuxedo after prom week.
It happened for the third time this season when he was optioned back to the minors after twirling a gem against the Chicago White Sox on Thursday.
Club insiders say he could be bounced back to St. Louis as early as Tuesday when the Cardinals open a four-game series against the Chicago Cubs.
Nobody shuffles their roster card as quickly as the Cards.
McGreevy is the new kid on St. Louis’ block, which puts him at the end of its six-man rotation of starters no matter how well he pitches.
It’s turned him into the “Cameo Kid” — a stand-in on baseball’s biggest stage.
“It’s the side of the game that not many people know about,” McGreevy said. “I was having a great spring, but we already have a great starting rotation.
“It was one of those things that you just have to smile about.
“Like, ‘Dang, that stinks.’”
McGreevy, who will turn 25 on July 8, has remained steady on this roller-coaster shuttle between Memphis and St. Louis.
He’s logged a win-loss record of 5-1 and an ERA of 2.27 with 33 strikeouts in seven appearances since making his big-league debut last year.
He’s rivaled Bieber as a control freak by walking only four batters over 39⅔ innings.
McGreevy is 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA this season in three big-league appearances. He’s logged 15 strikeouts and just two walks over 16⅔ innings.
He’s been stellar at Memphis, as well, with a 7-1 record, 2.51 ERA, 64 strikeouts and just 12 walks over 61 innings this season.
Cardinal manager Oli Marmol was most impressed with McGreevy’s response after the Los Angeles Dodgers tagged him with a three-run second inning and his first MLB loss on June 8.
“(It) could have been a very, very big inning that snowballs and shortens his outing by a lot,” Marmol said. “But that’s kind of what I like about him the most … He doesn’t allow that to happen.
“He really does stay in the moment, especially for his level of experience.
“We played a good team, and for him not to get sped up at any moment, that was awesome to see.”
McGreevy did have to hurry to catch an early morning flight from Memphis to Chicago to start the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader against the White Sox.
MLB rosters are limited to 26 players, but the Cardinals were allowed to use McGreevy as a “27th player” after Wednesday’s rain-out forced them to play a double-header on Thursday.
He responded by pitching a three-hitter over five innings, allowing just one walk and one run while striking out five.
McGreevy admitted that his early morning flight that day left him “just gassed” by the fifth inning.
But he’s prepared to stay this difficult course that St. Louis has plotted for him.
“I’m at a good spot,” McGreevy said. “My stuff’s been good. Physically I’ve been good. Mentally I’ve been good.
“Making adjustments, pitch to pitch, separates guys and shows who wants to be a big leaguer.
“If you’re able to make that adjustment pitch to pitch, I think I’ll be able to stay.”
He knows that MLB rules will eventually force an end to this insanity.
Once a player is put on the 26-man roster, the club can send him back to the minors only five times that season before another team can claim him off waivers.
The Cardinals, as cold-hearted as they’ve been in their handling of McGreevy, wouldn’t want to lose him to that kind of exposure.
“Three up, three down” an inning is the dream of every pitcher, but he’s got two more outs to go in this strange game of Cards.
