Phoenix — After being cut loose by the Dodgers in the previous offseason, Trevor Bauer visited Camelback Ranch on Sunday afternoon for the first time.
It was hardly a glamorous reunion.
Bauer pitched in an exhibition game for Asian Breeze, a Japanese tryout club for players hoping to land professional contracts. He was on an unremarkable backfield, facing prospects from all levels of the Dodgers minor league teams, and wearing an unidentifiable black and red uniform over his head.
Using the Trackman system on the field, the 32-year-old pitched three shutout innings and was told his fastball hit 99 mph.
It was impossible to overlook the awkwardness of the situation, though.
Many women have accused Bauer of sexual assault over the past three years, but he has never been prosecuted.
Even though an independent arbitrator lowered his original 324-game penalty to 194 games, he still received the longest suspension under MLB’s domestic violence policy in 2022.
Despite his assertion that he is “still one of the best pitchers in the world,” Bauer has not signed with another Major League team since being released by the Dodgers in January of last year.
“I’ve improved as a pitcher since the last time I was here,” stated Bauer. “Hopefully, I showed them today that I’m still a very good pitcher.”
The previous season, Bauer played in the Nippon Professional Baseball league in Japan. He revealed that he has made the league minimum pay offer to MLB teams in order to play this season.
With less than three weeks until opening day, he still doesn’t have a major league job.
Consequently, the previous Cy Young Award winner agreed to throw for Asian Breeze in the spring.
According to Bauer, Asian Breeze had originally intended to pitch him during a Saturday exhibition game against the Arizona Diamondbacks club. But Bauer’s outing was moved to Sunday after that game was called off.
Regarding going back to the Dodgers’ spring training complex, Bauer stated, “To be honest, I don’t really care who I pitch against.” All I like to do is pitch. I hope they had fun and appreciated it.
What does Bauer, who is still active on social media and YouTube, want to do now that the season is almost here?
He advised, “Try to amuse fans on YouTube and then see where it goes from there.” “I’m not sure. Right now, I don’t really plan because I have no control over anything.
