Blackballed Star Trevor Bauer to Pitch vs. Dodgers in Spring Training

Ex-Dodgers starting pitcher Trevor Bauer wants back into MLB in a bad way, and is of the belief he deserves another shot. Bauer was suspended a record 324 games (later reduced to 194 games) in June 2021 on the basis of a sexual assault allegation at his home in Pasadena, but charges in the case were never filed and lawsuits by both Bauer and his accuser were settled without money changing hands.

Still, Bauer has remained a toxic figure in the eyes of MLB decision-makers, and though he was a free agent last year, he was not able to get a job in the big leagues. He wound up pitching in Japan, spending the season with the Yokohama BayStars.

Now, he is back in the U.S. and pitching again. Sort of.

Bauer will face the Dodgers on Sunday in a Spring Training game with a traveling Japanese team called the Asian Breeze. He won’t be facing Dodgers big-leaguers, though—he’ll mostly be facing minor-leaguers while the Spring Dodgers are playing the Diamondbacks.

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Dodgers Signed Trevor Bauer to $100 Million Contract

Bauer is 33 years old, but when we last saw him on a major-league mound, he was excellent, striking out eight in six innings to earn a 3-2 win over the Giants. It was Bauer’s first season in Los Angeles, and the win ran his record to 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA. The Dodgers had signed Bauer to a three-year, $102 million contract that spring.

Bauer had won a Cy Young Award in 2018, when he went 12-6 with a 2.21 ERA for Cleveland. For his career, he is 83-69 with a 3.9 ERA and 1,416 strikeouts in 1,297 innings.

He went 11-4 with a 2.59 ERA in 24 games in Japan last year.

Still, despite all resolution to his legal woes, Bauer remains blackballed by baseball, and his time for getting back into the game is running short.  At the time the original accusations were launched against Bauer, his accuser, Lindsey Hill, presented hospital records that, according to the Los Angeles Times, “said she had been diagnosed with ‘acute head injury’ and ‘assault by manual strangulation’ in the wake of a sexual encounter.”

Despite the resolution of his legal problems, Bauer has not seemed to get past that aspect of the accusation as he tries to get back to the majors.

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‘I Have a Lot of Support From Players and Coaches’

Bauer has said that any blowback from signing him to a MLB team would dissipate in a few days. Indeed, he has had support from former teammates, including Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts.

The Times asked Bauer about the notion that signing him would not damage a team’s image for the long-term, but would only be a story for a few days.

“I’m not sure if it would be three days, or five, or whatever, but it would be shorter than the vast majority of people think. I have a lot of support from players and coaches around the league,” Bauer said. “I haven’t talked about that publicly because I don’t want to make those private conversations public.

“I appreciate you asking Mookie [Betts] his thoughts. He obviously took some flak when he said that, so I don’t want to put others in that position, players or coaches that might not have the same standing he does.”

The support for his return, though, is there among the league’s rank-and-file, even if owners remain dead-set against allowing him back in.

“I know the type of support that I have around the league, from players and coaches and front offices. I don’t think there would be any problem there. I also know the support that I have from fan bases,” Bauer said.

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