Guardians' Bieber to undergo Tommy John surgery

Cleveland Guardians right-hander Shane Bieber will undergo Tommy John surgery after experiencing right elbow pain, the team announced.

The 28-year-old hurler initially felt pain in the elbow following his first start of the season against the Oakland Athletics.

The Guardians decided to have Bieber undergo further imaging and medical evaluation due to the recurrence of symptoms following his second start of the campaign against the Seattle Mariners.

Cleveland is in the midst of confirming a date for the procedure.

"First and foremost, we feel for Shane," president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said, according to MLB.com's Mandy Bell. "There's a lot of things that he's got to process right now and work through on the mental side because of just how set he is on wanting to pitch and contribute to the team. And not being able to do that has really impacted him."

Bieber will miss the remainder of the 2024 campaign after getting off to a terrific start, striking out 20 in 12 innings across two outings.

The 2020 American League Cy Young winner is eligible for free agency at the end of the season.

After placing Bieber on the injured list, the Guardians recalled right-hander Peter Strzelecki from the minors to take Bieber's spot on the active major-league roster.