Former Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer makes Japanese baseball debut 2 years after last MLB appearance
Trevor Bauer has not pitched in an MLB game since June 2021. Unable to find another team in the major leagues after a year-plus suspension and subsequent release from the Los Angeles Dodgers, the 32-year-old made his debut for Japan's Yokohama Baystars' minor league team Sunday.
He reportedly agreed to a one-year deal with the Japanese Nippon Professional League club in March. An announced 2,600 spectators turned out for his debut at a park that usually sees only a few hundred fans.
Bauer allowed four hits, zero runs and struck out six in four innings. The team said the game drew 77,000 streaming views, a stark increase from their normal average of 5,000 views.
Just getting started ????️ https://t.co/xPSbe53U8U
— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) April 16, 2023
"I thought the day went really well," Bauer said via the Associated Press. "The stuff was good, the command was good, the health was good. I feel like I'm ready to compete now, but I have to build my pitch count."
After his long absence, it was unclear how soon Bauer would be ready to take the mound. After winning the NL Cy Young Award in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, the right-hander spent part of the 2021 season on administrative leave after he was accused of choking a California woman to unconsciousness and assaulting her during a sexual encounter. Bauer has maintained the incident was consensual. He was never charged with a crime.
MLB investigated the accusations against Bauer for months and announced in April 2022 it was suspending him an unprecedented 324 games, or two full seasons, under its policy covering domestic violence and sexual assault.
The day he was suspended, a third woman accused him of sexual assault. In December, an arbitrator lowered the suspension to 194 games, paving the way for his reinstatement. The Dodgers announced in January they were releasing Bauer with one year remaining on his three-year, $102 million contract.
According to Bauer, the time off didn't impact his performance.
"I've stayed ready," Bauer said. "I didn't feel like I'd been away at all. The game came to me well. It didn't speed up on me. I commanded the ball. There really wasn't any adjustment. Just competitive baseball instead of throwing to hitters in a cage."