Former LA Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer is coming off an impressive season in the Mexican League where he led the Diablos Rojos del México to the World Series equivalent, Serie del Rey.
In the LMB postseason, Bauer recorded a 1.67 ERA and struck out 32 batters over 27 innings pitched. He was honored as the 2024 Mexican League Pitcher of the Year. Despite the performance, Bauer hasn't been able to secure major league interest.
During the offseason, Bauer is working on his pitching with simulated outings inside the practice cage. Generally, Bauer feels pretty good about himself, but he had to sweat it out on this one.
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On Friday, Bauer posted a video where he went up against a college baseball player. While Bauer assumed it would be a quick pitching outing, it turned out to be the longest.
"I thought this at bat would be over quick. Turns out it became one of the longest I've ever had in my cage," Bauer said.
Bauer started with a breaking ball that landed inside the zone, taking the ball count to 0-1. He boasted about it as he said:
"That's so dirty. That's really cruel of me. No one's hitting that pitch."
The next pitch was another breaking ball, which the slugger resisted from going after. It was called a ball as the count became 1-1.
Bauer fired a high-flying outside fastball, which the hitter left alone to make the count 2-1. Bauer wanted to execute the four seamers perfectly so as to set up the batter for a trap on the splitter. But his plan backfired.
"I missed bad. That was terrible," Bauer said.
The fourth pitch of the at-bat was an inside pitch. But the hitter left it alone for a ball, which got Bauer riled up and frustrated.
"He was supposed to swing at that," Bauer said. "Heater in, 2-1, he trigger, broken bat."
Pitching to a 3-1 count, Bauer had to fire a swing-and-miss pitch, and he nailed the execution with a heater, catching enough of the plate. Bauer got himself back in the contest with the count turning full.
The sixth pitch was a fastball outside, which the hitter chased for a foul ball.
"I thought he'd freeze on that front hip to seem," Bauer said. "I wanted it bad. I executed, but he fouled it off."
The seventh pitch was a breaking ball, which meant it turned out to be a base-on ball, as Bauer lost the battle. He still followed it up with five more pitches until he got the ground ball to complete the out.
Here's the video:
Trevor Bauer is headed back to Japan for 2025 season
With no interest again in the offseason, Trevor Bauer, post a successful season in Mexico, is going back to play in Japan, where he'll once again represent the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball.
In January, Bauer signed the deal, marking his second stint there.
He pitched there in the 2023 season. Bauer was selected for the NPB All-Star Game and was even named the MVP of the month in June. He appeared in 19 games for Yokohama that season, posting a 10-4 record and 2.76 ERA with 130 strikeouts across 130.2 innings pitched.
