Trevor Bauer is not subtle.
Trevor Bauer is not subtle
Trevor Bauer is
undoubtedly the most abrasive pitcher in MLB. He knows you probably don’t like him, and he doesn’t care.Bauer has been calling out the Astros for cheating long before it was cool. In 2018, he accused Astros pitchers of illegally doctoring the baseball and made a start against Houston in which his spin rate mysteriously jumped. An article published Monday at Fangraphs suggested Bauer may have conducted some other spin rate experiment in 2019.
There’s no question about what he did in Monday’s spring training start, though. Facing his first hitter of the day, Bauer decided to just straight-up tell one batter what was coming. No need for a trash can or an Apple Watch. Bauer intentionally tipped his pitches by motioning with his glove.
Bauer’s pitch sequence went fastball, fastball, changeup, fastball—and he was able to induce a flyout to center.
Reds outfielder Derek Dietrich gave a very tongue-in-cheek interview with Fox Sports Ohio in which he explained Bauer’s motivations.
“Trevor and I are good friends,” Dietrich said. “If you’ve followed baseball this offseason, there’s a little thing going on with sign stealing. So, Trevor’s not too fond of it, so he figured he’s gonna try something new this season. He’s gonna start telling the batters what’s coming. That way there’s no ifs, ands or buts about what’s going on. Just, here it comes, try to hit it.”
Bauer obviously isn’t going to do this in the regular season but it’s a clever way to express your displeasure with the scandal. It’s just a shame Bauer is in the National League now and we won’t get to see how he’d make his feelings known in a game against the Astros.
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