CLEVELAND — Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Trevor Bauer does things his own way, and he makes no apologies for it.
Whether it is building and flying drones, using an unorthodox long-toss routine to warm up on days he pitches, taking a very physics-based approach to his pitching or spending copious amounts of time working on a new pitch every offseason, Bauer is not afraid to think outside of the box.
“He’s a mean nerd,” Mike Clevinger laughingly told WKYC.com at TribeFest 2019. “He actually is one of my biggest fans, which is one of the coolest things about playing with him.
“He’s one of the best in the game. He’s one of the best to do it. Definitely, one of the best arms and stuff around, besides mine, obviously. Having him there to support and give his ideas, his data, all his research, I’m just a student of the game.”
Bauer heads into a third arbitration year after his best professional season.
Considered by some to be a potential American League Cy Young Award candidate for his efforts through the first four months of the season, Bauer set new career highs in several statistical categories despite missing five weeks because of a broken bone in his leg suffered against the Chicago White Sox on August 11.
Bauer registered 221 strikeouts against 134 hits, 43 earned runs and 57 walks allowed in 175.1 innings of work over his 28 appearances. Bauer compiled a 12-6 record and 2.21 ERA while opposing hitters batted just .208 against him in 2018.
Bauer set a single-season high for strikeouts and personal lows for ERA, hits, runs and earned runs allowed and walks in a year with at least 26 starts.
“Bauer, man, that guy is really, really different,” fellow starter Carlos Carrasco said to WKYC.com. “The day he pitches, he’ll show up at stadium like 3:30, 4, and just go and prepare, get himself fired up. The most impressive is the long toss, the way he’s long-tossing everything.”
Bauer has been a double-digit winner in each of the last four seasons, totaling 52 victories since 2015. Additionally, Bauer has struck out at least 143 batters in each of the last five years, with his single-season career-best, 221, coming in 28 appearances, including 27 starts, for the Indians.
And after working with Bauer over the past six years, Carrasco is confident that more good things lie ahead for the 28-year old right-hander from North Hollywood, California.
“I think he’s really smart,” Carrasco said. “I saw this year, during the offseason, he’s trying to learn a new pitch, a changeup. That guy, whenever he says, ‘I’m going to learn new pitches,’ he’s always bringing it. That’s why last year, he made it to the All-Star Game.”
