Former MLB player Trevor Bauer played for four different teams throughout his 10-year playing career, and those years have been nothing short of controversial.
Bauer got his starts in 2011 with the Arizona Diamondbacks, only making four starts for the one-time World Series champions. The Diamondbacks took him with the No. 3 pick in the 2011 MLB draft, and it didn’t take long for the 10- year veteran to make his debut the next season. His tenure didn’t last long after being traded to the Cleveland Guardians in a three-team deal.
After Bauer’s former Arizona Diamondbacks’ teammates discussed their concerns about the Los Angeles, California, native. He had a record of not listening to the leaders on his team, the staff and his teammates. It started becoming a problem in the locker room from his first day.
“Since day one in spring training, I caught him, and he killed me because he threw about 100 pitches the first day,” Bauer’s former teammate Miguel Montero told ArizonaSports.com in 2012. “The next time he threw I saw him doing the same thing. He never wanted to listen.”
In his July 28, 2019 start against the Kansas City Royals, Bauer launched the ball from the pitching mound over the center field fence and into the stands before being taken out of the game. This antic got him traded three days later to the Reds and fined by the MLB.
Bauer didn’t seem to live up to the No. 3 pick aspirations given to him during his short time with the Diamondbacks in Cleveland, but he turned into a solid No. 2 or No. 3 pitcher. On the Guardians, he hovered around a 3.89 ERA in seven years. His time in Cincinnati though, changed this perception of him to become an ace for the organization.
In the shortened 2020 60 game season in 2020, he showed his skills on the mound, being named the National League Cy Young — an award given to the best pitcher in both leagues — and bringing the Reds to the playoffs. Bauer’s career-year earned him a three-year, $102 million deal with the 2020 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, making him one of the highest- paid pitchers in the league.
Bauer joined Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer — who were also Cy Young winners — looking to return to the mountain top.
He only lasted 17 starts until controversy struck again.
Bauer faced many off-the-field difficulties during his short tenure with the Dodgers. On July 2, 2021, sexual assault allegations were made against him, forcing MLB to place him on administrative leave.
Due to the MLB lockout during the 2021- 2022 season, the length of his suspension was pushed to April 2022. Rob Manfred, commissioner of the MLB, announced that Bauer would be suspended for 324 games — two full seasons — without pay after violating the league’s Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy.
Then in December 2022, MLB announced that his suspension was shortened to 194 games, allowing him to join the Dodgers and ride out the remainder of his contract. But with all of the media circulating , L.A. decided to release him, and he has not touched an MLB field since.
It didn’t take long for Bauer to touch the diamond once again, signing with the Yokohama Bay Stars in the Japan Central League in 2023. With Bauer still searching his way back into the MLB, he took time to build his craft, playing in Japan before signing with Diablos Rojos del México in 2024.
Through his time in Japan and Mexico, he gave the fans an in-depth look into his time out of the MLB, vlogging to his 931,000 subscribers on YouTube. Bauer posts baseball-related content, whether it is playing baseball tic-tac-toe or golfing with baseballs, Bauer found a new way of earning media attention, earning over 500,000 views per video.
His channel started to increase in subscribers when he played in Mexico, having hour-long videos with Bauer talking over them and giving his insight into what he did during the game. He now has found something that has not happened in the MLB and made it his own, connecting back to his way of his way or the highway.
Bauer has resigned from the Yokohama Bay Stars, delaying a return to the MLB for another season, but he has now found a way to make a name for himself.
