Former Los Angeles Dodgers’ Pitcher Trevor Bauer May Never Make It Back To Major League Baseball

Trevor Bauer, a former Los Angeles Dodgers right-handed starter, will be pitching for a new team.

Bauer, 32, has signed a one-year contract for $4 million with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.

Nippon Professional Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in Japan. The league has a rich history, having been started in 1934.

Like Major League Baseball, Nippon Professional Baseball is divided into two leagues; the Central League, and the Pacific League.

DeNa, Bauer’s new team, finished in second place in the Central League last season, with a 73-86 record.

Bauer has not pitched for the Dodgers since he began serving a 324-game suspension from MLB on April 29, 2022, for violating Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy.

Bauer was suspended over allegations of sexual assault.

The suspension was the result of an investigation by MLB regarding domestic violence and sexual abuse charges brought by a woman who alleges Bauer punched and choked her on two separate occasions during sex in 2021..

However, on December 22, 2022, MLB arbitrator Martin Scheinman reduced Bauer’s suspension, permitting the pitcher to return to the Dodgers.

Bauer served 194 days of his suspension.

As was their right, instead of keeping Bauer on their 40-man roster when the suspension was lifted, the Dodgers elected to designate Bauer for assignment. They chose to pay Bauer the remainder of his salary, which is worth roughly $22.5 million.

Had another MLB team selected Bauer off waivers, his new team would have been responsible for paying Bauer only the MLB minumum salary, or $700,000, with the Dodgers responsible for the balance.

As a free agent, no MLB team chose to select Bauer off waivers, and as a result, he will be pitching for at least one year in Japan.

Looking Back At Trevor Bauer and MLB:

Trevor Bauer graduated a year early from William S. Hart High School in Santa Clara, California. He enrolled immediately at UCLA.

Bauer was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks out of UCLA, as the third player chosen in the 2011 MLB draft.

Bauer’s UCLA pitching teammate, Gerrit Cole, was the first player chosen in the draft.

The Seattle Mariners chose left-handed pitcher Danny Hultzen after Cole, and before Bauer.

The signing bonuses for the three pitchers that year were as follows:

Cole-$8 million from the Pittsburgh Pirates

Hultzen-$6.35 million from the Seattle Mariners

Bauer-$3.4 million from the Arizona Diamondbacks

At the time of the draft, most analysts felt Cole, Hultzen and Bauer were “can’t miss” pitchers, with potential stardom and consistent All Star appearances in their futures.

With an overall grade of 70 on the 40-80 scouting grade scale, Cole had the highest scouting grade among the three. He was viewed by Baseball America to have a repertoire that included a blazing fastball, an incredible slider, and an emerging changeup.

Cole was scouted throwing his fastball up to 101 miles per hour.

Hultzen, now 33, pitched in only six major league games. He never started a game, but threw out of the Chicago Cubs bullpen six times in 2019.

Hultzen had been granted free agency by the Mariners in 2016, signing with the Cubs in 2018.

Bauer was seen as a grade 65 pitcher, and less dominating than his college teammate, Gerrit Cole.

Bauer’s repertoire at the time he was drafted included a fastball that touched 98, a wicked curveball, and a splitter, slider and changeup that were works in progress.

While they were at UCLA together, prior to the 2011 draft, it was widely reported that Bauer and Cole did not enjoy a very good relationship.

In 2021, Bauer revealed that Cole criticized Bauer in front of teammates for not following the UCLA team weight lifting program.

While they were not close in college, apparently, Bauer and Cole have moved along from their differences to have a civil relationship now.

The incident of the UCLA weight program is interesting, because it illustrates one of the major concerns MLB front offices, pitching coaches, and managers have regarding Bauer. They question his “independent” thinking regarding his personal training and conditioning regimen.

He is fond of crafting his own training programs and conditioning exercises.

His independent thinking has caused team concerns and issues that became public, to say the least.

Bauer is controversial. Bauer is divisive. And yes, Bauer is talented.

Bauer was drafted in June 2011. However, he remained with Arizona only a bit more than one year. At the July 31, 2012 trade deadline, the Diamondbacks traded Bauer in a three-team deal that included the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, and Arizona Diamondbacks. Bauer ended up with Cleveland.

In July 2019, Bauer was traded by the Indians as part of another three-team deal that included the Indians, the San Diego Padres and the Reds. Bauer landed with the Reds.

Bauer became a free agent in 2020, and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers February 11, 2021.

Bauer was an All Star with Cleveland in 2021. He won the National League Cy Young Award with the Reds in 2020.

Now, after parts of 11 seasons as a solid MLB pitcher, Bauer is taking his right arm, his controversy, his history, and his checkered past to Japan.

Mixed Reaction To Bauer:

Ice cream companies know that people have different tastes. They like different things. That’s why we have chocolate, vanilla, and countless other ice cream flavors.

Not all fans or baseball purists feel the same way about Trevor Bauer. Some like him. Some don’t. But it seems every fan has an opinion of Trevor Bauer.

Mention of his name brings diverse reactions.

There are those that feel Bauer should have served his entire suspension.

There are those that point to the fact no criminal charges were brought against Bauer, and MLB should never have suspended him.

Rarely does one find a baseball fan without an opinion of Trevor Bauer’s character, his demeanor and/or his abilities.

There are those that feel Bauer was guilty of incredibly poor judgement. On several occasions.

There are those that feel administrators in MLB wanted Bauer out of their game.

Right or wrong, Bauer brings controversy. And debate.

MLB team owners and their front office executives could have added Bauer to their 2023 pitching staff for just $700,000. They could have let the Dodgers pay the rest.

At today’s skyrocketing prices for pitchers, that would be the bargain of the year.

To a club, they passed.

To a club, 30 ownership groups and front offices allowed Trevor Bauer to sign a contract to pitch professionaly in Japan, rather than in MLB.

Indeed, that speaks volumes.

If Bauer doesn’t get in any trouble in Japan, has a good year, and shows he can still pitch at the age of 32, will MLB welcome him back when his contract with Nippon Professional Baseball expires?

It is difficult to see what changes in society between now and the end of the coming season would encourage any MLB team to sign Trevor Bauer.

Could it happen? Yes. All it takes is one owner/one front office to change the current dynamic with Trevor Bauer. Just one.

Will it happen? Time will tell. But he may want to get comfortable pitching in Japan.