Shane Bieber gave John Schneider a real Blue Jays lift Tuesday, with the injured right-hander now moving toward his next rehab checkpoint.
Bieber is in Toronto and set to throw a bullpen on Wednesday, a sign that the club wants one more close look before sending him back into game action.
From there, the next step is expected to be a rehab start with Triple-A Buffalo, which pushes his build into a much tougher test than the lower-level work he has handled so far.
That matters because the Blue Jays' official injury page now pegs Bieber's return as potentially late June, which makes this week feel like the point where his comeback starts getting more serious.
His first rehab outing was a clean one. Bieber worked 2 scoreless innings in the Florida Complex League and struck out 3, which gave Toronto the kind of calm opening it wanted.
The second outing was rougher. Bieber lasted 2.1 innings at Dunedin and was charged with 5 earned runs, a reminder that this recovery was never going to move in a straight line.
Why this Shane Bieber update matters now
The easy read would be to focus on the ugly second line and worry. The better read is that the Blue Jays are still pushing him forward instead of slowing him down.
That is what makes the Toronto bullpen important. A pitcher does not come into the city for this kind of session unless the club believes the next stage is close enough to start planning around. That is an inference based on Toronto's official rehab sequence.
It also suggests Bieber is getting stretched out beyond the shorter rehab looks he has already logged. Toronto is no longer only checking whether he can get through 2 innings. It is trying to see how fast he can start resembling a real starter again. That is an inference based on his first 2 rehab outings and the move to Buffalo.
The Blue Jays need that badly. Dylan Cease is still on the injured list, Max Scherzer is still on a rehab track of his own, and this staff has spent too much of the season working through temporary answers.
There is still no reason to rush the finish. One good bullpen and one Buffalo outing do not erase everything that came before, and the official timeline still leaves room for more build.
But this is still a strong update. Shane Bieber is back in Toronto, back on a mound Wednesday, and back on the kind of path that gives the Blue Jays a real chance to see him in their rotation again before long.
Will Shane Bieber be back in the Blue Jays rotation before the end of June?
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