Trevor Bauer

Trevor Andrew Bauer (born January 17, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously pitched in MLB for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Cleveland Indians.

Trevor Bauer
Bauer with the Reds
Cincinnati Reds – No. 27
Starting Pitcher
Born: (1991-01-17) January 17, 1991
North Hollywood, California
Bats: Right Throws: Right
MLB debut
June 28, 2012, for the Arizona Diamondbacks
MLB statistics
(through 2019 season)
Win–loss record70–60
Earned run average4.04
Strikeouts1,179
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Bauer played college baseball for the UCLA Bruins, winning the Golden Spikes Award in 2011. He was the third overall selection of the 2011 Major League Baseball draft by the Diamondbacks, and made his MLB debut in 2012.[1] The Diamondbacks traded him to the Indians during the 2012–13 offseason. The Indians traded him to the Reds before the trade deadline in the 2019 season.

Amateur career

Bauer attended Hart High School in Santa Clarita, California. He then attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he played for the UCLA Bruins baseball team. In his freshman year at UCLA, Bauer recorded a 9–3 win-loss record with a 2.99 earned run average (ERA), recording 92 strikeouts in ​105 1⁄3 innings pitched.

Bauer was a member of the USA 2009 Baseball Collegiate National Team. He was 1–1 with a 4.67 ERA in five games (three starts), with 24 strikeouts and seven walks in ​17 1⁄3 innings. In 2009, he was named to the Baseball America freshman All-America team.[2]

During the 2010 season, the Bruins had the best record (51–17) in school history and were the second-best team in the country. The Bruins played in the 2010 College World Series and were defeated by South Carolina in the NCAA Championship Series.[3] In 2010, he was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award, presented annually to the top amateur baseball player in the country by USA Baseball.[4]

In 2011, Bauer was named the Pac-12 Conference Pitcher of the Year and to the All-Pac-12 First Team. He was also the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's National Player of the Year. He was named the District IX Player of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and College Player of the Year by Baseball America.[5]

In his junior year, Bauer went 13–2 with a 1.25 ERA in 16 starts. He set a nation-leading and Pac-12 single-season record of 203 strikeouts. He finished the season with nine consecutive complete games and established new records at UCLA, including 460 career strikeouts, 34 wins, and ​373 1⁄3 pitched innings. Bauer won the Golden Spikes Award,[6] and the National Pitcher of the Year Award.[7]

Professional career

Arizona Diamondbacks
"He came right after guys. After a couple of guys got on in the second inning, he had that adrenaline going, and he pitched out of it. He used all his pitches which is what everyone wanted to see, and he threw them all very well."

Visalia Rawhide catcher Mark Reed, August 2011[8]

Bauer pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012 spring training

The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Bauer with the third overall pick the 2011 Major League Baseball draft.[9] On July 25, he signed a major league contract with the Diamondbacks, being added to the 40-man roster.[10] He made his professional debut with the Class-A Advanced Visalia Rawhide.[11] In the game, Bauer pitched two innings, allowed one hit, struck out three batters, and walked one.[8] He made three starts in total in Visalia, pitching in nine innings and allowing three runs on seven hits. However, he struck out 17 of the 39 batters he faced,[12] earning himself a promotion to the Double-A Mobile BayBears on August 13.[13]

In four starts at AA Mobile, Bauer pitched ​16 2⁄3 innings, striking out 26, but walked eight batters and had a 7.56 ERA.[14] He received his first win as a professional August 20, 2011 in a 13–6 victory over the Jacksonville Suns. He was named to appear in the 2012 All-Star Futures Game.[15]

Bauer made his major league debut for the Diamondbacks on June 28, 2012, against the Atlanta Braves. He went four innings, struck out three batters, and gave up five hits in a no-decision. He got his first major league win on July 8, against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

On July 18, 2012, Bauer was optioned back to Triple-A Reno Aces after posting a 1–2 record and a 6.06 ERA. The organization rested Bauer for two weeks to keep his arm lively, and he responded by posting six shutout innings in his first start back on August 6.[16]

Cleveland Indians
Bauer with the Indians in 2013
Bauer with the Indians in 2017

On December 11, 2012, he was traded to the Cleveland Indians in a three-team deal. Bauer went to Cleveland with Matt Albers and Bryan Shaw in exchange for Didi Gregorius, Tony Sipp and Lars Anderson. The Indians also acquired Drew Stubbs in a deal that sent Shin-Soo Choo and Jason Donald to Cincinnati to complete the deal.[17]

In 2013 for the Indians, he was 1-2 with a 5.29 ERA.[18] In 2014 for the Indians he was 5-8 with a 4.18 ERA.[18]

On June 16, 2015, Bauer got his first hit as a batter against the Chicago Cubs' pitcher Jake Arrieta in the top of the 5th inning at Wrigley Field.[19][20] During the July 3, 2015, game against the Pittsburgh Pirates' pitcher Antonio Bastardo, Bauer imitated his teammates' batting stances (Jason Kipnis, Mike Avilés and Ryan Raburn) in the top of the 7th inning and drew a walk.[21][22] In 2015, he was 11-12 and had the highest rate of bases on balls per 9 innings pitched in the majors (4.04).[23] He led the American League in walks, with 79,[24] and his 12 losses were 7th-most in the AL.

A keen collector of drones, Bauer sliced and injured his right pinky finger while repairing a drone in October 2016, a few days before he had a scheduled postseason start, and he needed 10 stitches to close the wound caused by one of the drone's propellers.[25][26][27] His injury forced his pitching start in the 2016 American League Championship Series to be pushed back from Game 2 to Game 3. Bauer had to leave after the first inning of Game 3, however, when the stitches used to treat his cut failed and the cut opened up.[28] In the subsequent World Series against the Chicago Cubs, Bauer was the losing pitcher in both of his starts, which came in Games 2 and 5. The Cubs won the series in seven games.

On October 5, 2017, in Game 1 of the American League Division Series, Bauer pitched 5​1⁄3 innings against the New York Yankees without giving up a hit, setting a new Indians postseason record.[29]

On April 4, 2019, Bauer pitched seven no-hit innings against the Toronto Blue Jays, recording eight strikeouts, six walks, and one hit by pitch.[30] On July 28, after allowing seven earned runs to the Kansas City Royals, Bauer threw a baseball out of frustration from the pitcher's mound over the centerfield wall, after seeing his manager Terry Francona walk out from the dugout to take him out of the game. Bauer later apologized for the incident, calling his actions "childish" and "unprofessional".[31]

Cincinnati Reds

On July 31, 2019, the Indians traded Bauer to the Cincinnati Reds in a three-team trade that also included the San Diego Padres. The Indians acquired Franmil Reyes, Logan Allen, and minor leaguer Victor Nova from the Padres and Yasiel Puig and minor league pitcher Scott Moss from the Reds, while the Padres acquired minor leaguer Taylor Trammell from the Reds.[32] Bauer wore "J Ochart" on his Players' Weekend jersey after losing a bet in the offseason with Jason Ochart, a hitting instructor at Driveline Baseball and hitting coach with the Philadelphia Phillies.[33] Bauer ended the season with a 6-10 record and a 4.48 ERA.

Pitching style
Bauer with the Indians in 2019

Bauer said he has patterned his overhand delivery after his role model, two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum.[34] He said he has studied so much video of Lincecum that he can by memory play back frame by frame Lincecum striking out 18 UCLA batters while he was a junior at the University of Washington. "He's been a huge influence on my career and my delivery," Bauer said.

Bauer features an eclectic and large variety of pitches. According to an article in Sports Illustrated, he has experimented with up to 19 different pitches.[1] He explained in an interview why he features so many pitches:

I'm very passionate about my craft and I've always been into science and discovery and all that stuff, so I'm always trying to find a way to get better from season to season. And throwing more pitches is a way that I've found to.... The more pitches that I have, that have different speeds and move differently, the more confusion it creates for the hitter. And if I throw all of them out of the same tunnel and make them look the same through 20 feet of flight ... obviously, I'm going to be a lot tougher to hit.[35]

According to Bauer, he throws these pitches:[35]

  • Four-seam fastball – thrown at 93–94 mph (tops out at 98)[36]
  • Changeups – thrown 80–84 mph: Bauer says, "I have two variations of it; I can make it cut or I can make it run."
  • Curveballs – "curve one" thrown at 74–78 mph, "curve two" thrown at 80–81.[37] According to Bauer, "I have two different grips, one that I use for a strike pitch and then another grip I use when I really want to bury it."
  • "Dot slider" – a traditional slider, 84–86 mph
  • "Circle slider" – a slider with movement more similar to a cutter: Bauer: "I use that one primarily early in the count to hit tunnels to righties, disguise it, make it look like a fastball or a changeup and keep it in the zone."
  • "Reverse slider" – thrown at 88–91 mph, it is designed to act as a "left-handed cut fastball ... It's a cross between a sinking fastball and a screwball—it's a little bit slower than a sinking fastball and a little bit harder than a traditional screwball would be."
  • Split-finger fastball – a traditional splitter, 86–88 mph

Bauer has gained some celebrity for his unusual workout and warmup regimen,[38][39] which includes long toss at distances up to 400 feet. Bauer is also known to study his pitching mechanics using high-speed cameras.[1] He has posted a series of videos on YouTube showing his pitching mechanics and repertoire in slow motion.[40] During 2017–2019 offseasons, Bauer had also tried to use pine tar to increase his spin rate, as he knew spin rate would become an important aspect, before pitchers such as Gerrit Cole could legally increase his spin rate. In September 2019, his spin rate on all his pitches increased significantly.

Personal life

Bauer's parents are Warren and Kathy Bauer.[41] He grew up a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers.[42]

Charitable campaigns

Starting in the 2018 season, Bauer launched his 69 Days of Giving campaign. In 2018, Bauer donated $420.69 to 68 different charities and capped it off by donating $69,420 to Max S. Hayes High School. The school is located minutes away from Progressive Field where the Indians play and focuses on technical and trade education.[43] In 2019, Bauer decided to take his giving to donate $10/strikeout to 69 different charities picked by his Twitter followers.

Political views and opinions

Bauer describes himself as a "socially liberal free-market capitalist".[44] Although at first he claimed to have voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 United States presidential election,[45] he later said he did not vote at all, but that he thought Trump would "shake up the system".[44] He has criticized American media for a liberal bias in its coverage of the president.[46]

Bauer has voiced his opposition to the theory of anthropogenic global warming,[46] and has made positive reference to the birther movement associated with Barack Obama.[47] On May 22, 2018, Bauer was accused of carving BD 911 into the pitcher's mound, a reference to a conspiracy theory that indicated "Bush did 9/11". Bauer later wrote on Twitter that he wrote BD 91.1 and that the numbers and letters were meaningful to him personally and completely unrelated to the September 11 attacks.[48]

Bauer Bytes

Bauer has also garnered attention through YouTube. Bauer Bytes is a talk show featured on the "Momentum" YouTube channel, in which Bauer interacts with other MLB players such as Nolan Arenado, Whit Merrifield, and Mike Clevinger. The show takes place in Bauer's luxury home, where his guests and he consume meals prepared by Bauer's private chef.

References
  1. Jenkins, Lee (August 15, 2011). "Trevor Bauer Will Not Be Babied". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  2. "2009 Freshman All-America Team". Baseball America. June 30, 2009. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  3. Shandel, Richardson (June 29, 2010). "South Carolina defeats UCLA, 2-1, for baseball title". LA Times. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  4. "Meet the 2010 Golden Spikes Award Candidates". Goldenspikesaward.com. June 8, 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  5. ""Louisville Slugger's" All-American Baseball Teams". Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. June 2, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  6. "Trevor Bauer wins Golden Spikes Award". ESPN.com. ESPN Inc. (The Walt Disney Company, 80% Hearst Corporation, 20%). July 15, 2011. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  7. "UCLA's Trevor Bauer Earns National Pitcher of the Year Honors". uclabruins.com. Archived from the original on July 6, 2015. Retrieved July 4, 2015.
  8. "Bauer impresses in pro debut". Visalia Times-Delta. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
  9. "D-backs get UCLA right-hander Trevor Bauer third overall in Draft". Mlb.mlb.com. March 12, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  10. Nicholson-Smith, Ben. "D'Backs To Sign Trevor Bauer". MLBTradeRumors.com. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
  11. "Trevor Bauer". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  12. "Trevor Bauer". Baseball-Reference. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
  13. "Bauer train likely to depart Visalia, head to Double-A". Visalia Times-Delta. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
  14. "Trevor Bauer Minor League Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com. March 12, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  15. Mayo, Jonathan (March 12, 2013). "Prospects pack rosters for 2012 All-Star Futures Game". Mlb.mlb.com. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  16. Gilbert, Steve (August 7, 2012). "After brief shutdown, Bauer returns to hill". MLB.com. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  17. Tribe deals Choo to Reds, gets Bauer from D-backs
  18. "Trevor Bauer Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  19. "Gamecast". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  20. "Cleveland Indians". Facebook. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  21. Stone, Avery (July 3, 2015). "Indians' Trevor Bauer imitates teammates' batting stances". USA Today. Gannett Company, Inc. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  22. "Cleveland vs Pittsburgh". MLB.com. Major League Baseball. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  23. "Major League Leaderboards » 2015 » Pitchers » Dashboard | FanGraphs Baseball". Fangraphs.com. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  24. "Trevor Bauer is the Indians' No. 2 Starter for the Playoffs… and That's Okay".
  25. "The cruelest cut".
  26. "World Series: It's Trevor Bauer's turn in Game 5, says Cleveland Indians pitching coach Mickey Callaway | Sports". news-herald.com. October 30, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  27. Berg, Ted (October 14, 2016). "The Indians pushed back Trevor Bauer's ALCS start after he cut himself fixing a drone". USA Today. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  28. Joseph, Andrew (October 17, 2016). "Trevor Bauer's drone did some seriously disgusting damage to his finger". USA Today. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  29. "Indians' Trevor Bauer no-hits Yankees for 5 1/3 innings". NJ.com. October 5, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  30. "Tribe loses no-no, but Bauer makes history". MLB.com. April 4, 2019. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  31. "Trevor Bauer Hurls Baseball Over Center Field Wall Before Leaving Game vs. Royals". Sport Illustrated. July 28, 2019.
  32. "Indians complete three-team trade with the Padres and Reds". MLB.com. July 31, 2019.
  33. Lyons, Matt (August 6, 2019). "Indians unveil Players' Weekend names, monochromatic jerseys". Let's Go Tribe. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  34. "Arizona Diamondbacks draft pick Trevor Bauer takes key from Tim Lincecum". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  35. Pentis, Andrew (February 14, 2012). "Prospect Pitch: Bauer reveals repertoire". MiLB.com. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  36. "FanGraphs Trevor Bauer Pitch FX". Fangraphs.com. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  37. Schwartze, Michael (June 28, 2012). "Trevor Bauer Scouting Report with Video". MLB Dirt. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  38. Kaduk, Kevin (March 14, 2012). "Trevor Bauer's long toss routine is an amazing thing to watch (Video)". Yahoo!. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  39. Chen, Albert (May 7, 2012). "Dylan Bundy and Trevor Bauer could change game by long-tossing - Albert Chen - SI.com". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  40. "BauerOutage's channel". YouTube. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  41. "Trevor Bauer's Family: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". heavy.com. October 26, 2016.
  42. "Trevor Bauer GOES OFF on MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred!!". February 11, 2020 – via YouTube.
  43. "Bauer wraps up '69 Days of Giving' campaign". mlb.com. June 5, 2018.
  44. Reiter, Ben. "Trevor Bauer Is More Concerned With Being Right Than Being Liked". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  45. Bauer, Trevor. "Trevor Bauer on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  46. Bauer, Trevor (February 10, 2017). "Bauer: the climate changed before humans and will change after". Twitter. Retrieved July 6, 2019.
  47. Bauer, Trevor (February 10, 2017). "Bauer: that same president who supposedly wasn't born in the us". Twitter. Retrieved July 6, 2019.
  48. Carroll, Charlotte (May 22, 2018). "Trevor Bauer Responds to 'BD 911' Controversy, Calls Accusations 'unfounded'". Sports Illustrated. Time Inc. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.