Trevor Bauer’s quest to return to the major leagues will take him through the Los Angeles Dodgers’ facility in Glendale, Ariz., this weekend.
Bauer hasn’t played in the majors since June 2021, when he was pitching for the Dodgers. He was placed on administrative leave and ultimately suspended by MLB after a Southern California woman accused him of sexual assault. Prosecutors declined to charge him with a crime.
Now 33, Bauer pitched in Japan last season and is looking for a chance to latch on with a major league team again. He has said he will play for the major league minimum.
IN the interim, Bauer signed on with Asian Breeze, a Japan-based squad that scrimmages against teams of minor leaguers with the goal of its players capturing the attention of scouts.
The Los Angeles Times reported Asian Breeze charges its own players about $2,600 for a 20-day U.S. tour.
“Asian Breeze is extremely excited to announce that Trevor Bauer will be making his Asian Breeze debut on March 10th against the Los Angeles Dodgers Organization,” the team said in a news release on Thursday.
Asian Breeze players will be at the Dodgers’ Camelback Ranch facility on a back field, while Bauer’s former team will face the Arizona Diamondbacks in a spring training game on the main field.
Some back fields at the Dodgers’ complex have not been accessible to the media this spring, which is also the first season for Shohei Ohtani in the organization.
In regard to Bauer, the Dodgers declined the Times’ request for comment.
Los Angeles signed Bauer to a three-year, $102 million contract ahead of the 2021 season.
Bauer was 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA in 17 starts for the Dodgers in 2021. The 2020 National League Cy Young winner is 83-69 with a 3.79 ERA in 222 games (212 starts) with Arizona (2012), Cleveland (2013-19), Cincinnati (2019-20) and Los Angeles.
MLB originally suspended Bauer for a record 324 games in April 2022 for violating the league’s domestic violence policy. A neutral arbitrator reduced his suspension to 194 games in December 2022. The Dodgers then released him in January 2023.
Bauer and the woman both said they engaged in sexual activity twice during the pitcher’s lone season with the Dodgers. Bauer claims it was consensual and that he didn’t do anything the woman didn’t ask him to do.
A Los Angeles judge denied the woman’s request for a restraining order in the summer of 2021, and the district attorney’s office later declined to press charges.
Bauer went 10-4 with a 2.76 ERA for the Japan’s Yokohama BayStars last season.
He told the Times in an interview last month that he deserves another shot in the majors.
“I don’t believe,” he said, “that I was given a lifetime ban.”
He added: “I have served my time. Do I not deserve an opportunity to come back?”
–Field Level Media