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PHOENIX — Trevor Bauer’s attempt at a major-league return took him back to Camelback Ranch. The former Dodgers right-hander had once been a free-agent splash. But he was cut by the franchise nearly 14 months ago after serving the longest suspension in baseball’s history under the joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy.
Now, pitching for the day for a Japanese tryout team called Asian Breeze, Bauer faced a group of Dodgers minor leaguers on Sunday in one of the complex’s back fields before continuing his public campaign to find a job. After throwing in front of a crowd of about a hundred people along with some of his employees, Bauer said he “should have the opportunity to sign with a big league team.”
No major league scouts appeared to be in attendance.
“I think it was obvious that I was still elite,” said Bauer, who said he touched 99 mph and touted a splitter he picked up last season while pitching in Japan.
Bauer yielded some hard contact but struck out four over his three innings, drawing a crowd from a group wearing Bauer uniforms that have largely disappeared from Dodger Stadium since he last pitched for the club. The group followed him from back field to back field, observing his bullpen and taking part as Bauer solicited recommendations on what pitch to throw by outing’s end.
“I just wanted to come out and have some fun playing baseball,” Bauer said when asked what drove his showcase. “That’s it. I don’t think that anyone doubts that I’m still really good.”
While his teammates for the day may have been unknowns, the lineup he was facing featured Dodgers 40-man roster players in Andy Pages, Hunter Feduccia and Diego Cartaya along with notable names such as Jake Gelof (the club’s 2023 second-round pick).
In proclaiming his desire to pitch again, Bauer said he didn’t have a plan nor a guess as to what his future holds.
“I didn’t think I was going to hit 99 today. I didn’t really have an adrenaline. I was just in joking-around, have-a-good-time mode,” the pitcher said. “I wasn’t super competitive. … But I throw harder now than I did when I pitched in the big leagues.”
Bauer, who remains unsigned after pitching last season with Japan’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars, has not pitched in Major League Baseball since June 2021, when a San Diego woman accused him of sexual assault.
The allegations stemmed from a pair of encounters that began as consensual and, the woman said, turned violent. Two other women alleged similar interactions with Bauer in the past, as first reported by the Washington Post. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office declined to bring charges against Bauer, and the now 33-year-old has denied any wrongdoing.
Bauer appealed his ensuing suspension from the sport, reducing it from 324 games to 196, still the longest given by the league since implementing its joint domestic violence policy in 2015. He returned to competitive action last summer and has been public this winter about seeking another opportunity, saying he will take the major-league minimum of $740,000. In the interim, he said he accepted the opportunity to pitch with the tryout club, which has played against Dodger minor leaguers in years past. Bauer claimed his matchup against the Dodgers was coincidental — he was originally asked to pitch against Diamondbacks minor leaguers on March 9, but the game was canceled, he said.
His next outing, Bauer said, will be a series of live at-bats in his workout facility against one of his fellow content creators.
“I’ll probably throw live at-bats to Eric in like four days,” he said, alluding to his collaborator, Eric Sim, “and make a YouTube video out of it.”
(Photo of Trevor Bauer from May 3, 2023: Kyodo News via Associated Press)
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