Trevor Bauer #96 of Diablos Rojos pitches during Spring Training Game against MLB team. (Photo by Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images)
There are precious few pitchers who can dominate at the Major League level. There are even fewer available to MLB clubs halfway through the season.
One is Trevor Bauer, who continues to toil in the relative obscurity of the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol with the Diablos Rojos del Mexico, where he is a shoe-in for the league’s pitcher of the year award.
It’s been an eventful week for Bauer, who is likely the best pitcher in the world not playing in Major League Baseball, who set a new LMB record and threatened to sue MLB in a reply to a post on the social media site X in the span of 24 hours.
He continues to pitch in the Liga Mexicana de Beisbol as well as any pitcher has – in any league – while hoping, possibly in vain, to return to Major League Baseball. And each week, there are calls for fans of MLB teams in need of a starter to sign Bauer.
A lot has been written about Bauer in this space and elsewhere. The pitcher’s outspoken and outsized personality has made him a lightning rod around baseball, as have the allegations of sexual violence that led to him receiving a 324-game suspension, later reduced to 192 games, under Major League Baseball’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Child Abuse Policy.
Bauer has repeatedly denied the allegations and has never been indicted, arrested, or convicted of a crime related to the accusations that have dogged him. The results of MLB’s investigation that led to Bauer’s record suspension have never been released, as the results of investigations under the policy are confidential. One of Bauer’s accusers, Lindsay Hill, has alleged on the social media platform X that the investigation uncovered copious evidence of sexual misconduct, including videos of Bauer having rough sex with women. Hill has since locked her X account from public view.
Bauer broke the LMB record for strikeouts in a game, fanning 19 Guerreros de Oaxaca in a 6-1 on June 21. It’s another feather in the red cap for the UCLA alum, who has been spectacularly dominant for the Diablos this season. He’s got a 1.56 ERA over 69.1 innings of work in 11 starts. He leads the league in strikeouts with 102 – 31 ahead of Robert Stock of Laredo, who has a 3.76 ERA in 1.2 fewer innings. His WHIP is 0.98, and the 2020 Cy Young Award winner has allowed just 16 walks and 52 hits.
“Anytime you have a record in any league, anywhere, it’s special. Every league has its unique challenges. I don’t view a record here as better or worse than a record in another league,” Bauer said on a June 24 Zoom call with reporters.
No pitcher in any league is dominating his competition the way Bauer is dominating the LMB this year, and he’s doing it while pitching half his games at an altitude 2,000 feet higher than the highest elevation in MLB, where breaking pitches break less, and the ball carries further.
“This league is extremely unique in the sense that the altitude change between the stadium is the most in any league in the world,” Bauer said.
Asked to elaborate on the challenge of the altitude, he said, “There’s a lot of gradient, actually, in this league. It’s not just high or low. There’s 3,000 feet, 5,000 feet, 6,500 feet, 7,500. So it’s always changing. The biggest difference is the extremes, of course.”
Ever the analyst, Bauer explained in detail how the differences in air pressure at different altitudes at different ballparks can affect the movement of every pitch—not just breaking pitches.
“At sea level, my fastball has 18 inches of vertical movement, let’s say, at 96. That’s enough to throw it and get above someone’s barrel and get a lot of pop flies. In Mexico City, it’s got 13, 12, 14, somewhere in that range. So it’s more of like an average fastball. And so I end up on the barrel a lot more. So I have to use my fastball a little bit more as like an off-speed pitch,” he said. “I don’t have the ability to throw my two seam really at altitude because there’s no air for the two seams to grab on, so it doesn’t move nearly as much and it’s inconsistent movement at best. Whereas at sea level I can use my two seam a lot more. … I have to figure that out in the bullpen because if I’m at 2,000 feet, sometimes the ball moves, sometimes it doesn’t.”
Given that it’s been well-reported that Bauer could leave the Diablos Rojos should an MLB club offer to sign him and that Bauer is willing to play for the MLB’s minimum salary, why is he still in Mexico?
Shortly after Bauer’s debut in the LMB, one of Bauer’s accusers, Darcy Adanna Esemonu, was indicted in Maricopa County, Ariz., on charges of fraud and extortion related to a demand for $3.6 million and a lawsuit she subsequently filed against the pitcher after Bauer allegedly impregnated her.
I’d really prefer not to go this route but if I continue being kept out of baseball as I currently am I may have no other choice. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that and I’m allowed to return to my career that was taken from me over provably false allegations that never held any…
— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) June 21, 2024
Noted baseball analyst Bill James raised the possibility that Major League Baseball could potentially be exposed to massive liability should Bauer sue the league in a June 20 post on X, and Bauer responded, saying, “I’d really prefer not to go this route, but if I continue being kept out of baseball as I currently am I may have no other choice. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that and I’m allowed to return to my career that was taken from me over provably false allegations that never held any merit to begin with.”
Keep in mind, Major League Baseball has faced allegations of collusion before. After the Major League Baseball Players Association, the union representing the players filed three separate grievances against MLB and was forced to pay $280 million in damages for colluding to keep free agent salaries below market value.
There would undoubtedly be a public relations hit to any team that signed Bauer, as accusations seem to carry far more weight in the social media era than convictions.
But Bauer has proved that he’s still a dominant pitcher in a league where the quality of play approaches and possibly exceeds that of Triple-A.
While it is purely speculation to allege that Major League Baseball teams are colluding to blackball Bauer, a lawsuit would enable Bauer to access communications between teams and the league office – something MLB undoubtedly doesn’t want to happen – should the suit survive to the discovery phase.
It could also potentially reveal the results of the investigation into Bauer, which may contain findings that would cause further reputational harm to Bauer.
It could be viewed as, essentially, a version of mutually assured destruction playing out on and off the diamond.
For now, he’s happy in Mexico City, where the Diablos Rojos are 46-13 and leading the Zona Sur. They’re looking for their first LMB championship since 2014. He’s got games to pitch and goals to achieve and will be back on the hill this coming weekend when the Diablos face the second-place Leones de Yucatan in Mexico City.
“Personally, I’d like to win the Triple Crown. So I know that’s been done before, but it hasn’t been done in a while. So I’m going after that. I’d like to set the Diablos franchise record for season ERA. I think I have a shot at that,” Bauer said.
“But really, on the team side, it’s the championship. You know, I want to win. I’ve never won a championship in my career,” Bauer said. “I want to win.”
