When one hears the name Bauer, several items will probably spring to mind. Most will conjure up images of Kiefer Sutherland as agent Jack Bauer from the television show 24. Some may also think of musical artist Baauer, who orchestrated the viral classic “The Harlem Shake.” Hockey enthusiasts may even dredge up the Bauer brand of equipment they use to rifle off slap shots worldwide. It may be a tough road, but Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer is doing his best to usurp those staples to reach the forefront of the collective American consciousness.
For a while, it didn’t look like things were going to end up well for Trevor Bauer. His misuse in Arizona could have turned him into another case of wasted talent doomed to the life of a journeyman. Bauer was the third overall selection in the 2011 First Year Player Draft out of UCLA. He formed a dynamic duo with the number one overall pick in that draft, Gerrit Cole. Going into that process, most were sure that Bauer was destined to be the brighter star of the two. He had a bulldog mentality that shined through, even in the college ranks. He had a distinct style of pitching. Pitch counts were meaningless to him as he dictated his own pace and had an avant-garde way of sequencing his pitches. While that may have worked in a place where he was the big dog, Arizona was to have none of it.
The Diamondbacks elevated Bauer to the Majors after just 29 starts in the minors. He showed across all levels that he was a winner, but his walk rate (73 in 156 innings) was not something that could be swept under the rug. When he struggled in his initial run with the team, Arizona brass (most notably pitching coach Charles Nagy) decided it was prudent to tinker with his mechanics.
Needless to say, Bauer had other ideas. So after just four starts for the big club, Bauer was shipped off to Cleveland as part of a three team trade with the Indians and Reds. The third overall pick in the draft just a year prior was gone and now there was only Didi Gregorius to show for it. A lot of people did not understand why an organization would cut bait, so abruptly and so angrily, with a player for not wanting to change what made himself successful in the first place. Trevor Bauer was not injury prone. He wasn’t a philanderer or a drug user. He was a young power pitcher who had his own routine to keep his arm safe and himself effective.
For his first season in Cleveland, the D-Backs looked like they could give themselves a nice hardy pat on the back. Bauer continued to battle his issues with walks (89 in 138 innings between Triple-A Columbus & Cleveland) as he rode a season-long escalator between demotion and the occasional spot start. But never once did he change his identity. Trevor had been humbled by the experience, but was still bull-headed in the notion that his approach to throwing a ball 60 feet, 6 inches would eventually work. No attempted metamorphosis of his repertoire nor shuttling between levels of competition would change that. In 2014, it looked as if Bauer finally started to turn the corner.
He displayed enough control in seven minor league starts to finally get a real shot to stick with the Indians. As with any 23 year old, he hit his snags, but he shaved nearly five tenths of a point off his WHIP for Cleveland and provided adequate cover for AL Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber. He finished 5-8 with an ERA of 4.18 and WHIP of 1.38.
Those aren’t all-world numbers by any stretch of the imagination. But his 26 Major League starts in 2014 showed that someone, namely manager Terry Francona, actually believed in him. The two-time World Series winning Francona knows a thing or two about dealing with stubborn pitchers. Instead of trying to change what Bauer does on the mound, Tito is trying to have the youngster simplify the game to better utilize his impressive arsenal of pitches. From the results thus far this season, it looks like Francona and pitching coach Mickey Callaway have somewhat broken through.
Bauer went the first nine innings of 2015 without allowing a hit. Take that with a grain of salt because those nine innings were over two starts with seven walks sprinkled in. Bauer still had issues with the first inning in his first start against Houston, having to strike out the side to work around two bad walks. The influence of his manager and pitching coach showed in his second outing as he made quick work of the White Sox.
If this keeps up, both Cleveland and Bauer will both get what they want. The Indians have a starter who is 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA and an MLB-best 14.3 K/9. Bauer finally gets to do things his way, even if he conforms slightly to some constructive criticism. The results are looking thus far like this could be the start of something big in Cleveland that doesn’t involve somebody named LeBron.