Trevor Bauer is destined to be one of those players we love to hate. He’s a loudmouth, but he makes sense, and above all else, he communicates.
Trevor Bauer has a lot to say, and if you follow him on Instagram or Twitter, he can be a bit overbearing at times, with comments about everything and everyone.
But when you put a question directly to him, he answers it with honesty and self-confidence rarely found in major league baseball today.
Trevor Bauer’s ability to communicate with intelligence and conciseness comes home in this video when he was asked by the Dodgers team of announcers about his reaction to MLB’s tightening of the belt on using foreign substances.
The good stuff comes about a minute in, and true to form as a way to suck us in, Bauer begins with a note of humor before he levies the hammer on MLB…
Trevor Bauer: One In A Long Line Of Upset Players
With the line of emotionally charged incidents on the field lengthening, Bauer and others are asking for only one thing – and that’s for clarity and consistency by umpires regarding when and how to perform the now required random searches of pitchers.
Ironically, umpires are asking for the same thing as they find themselves appointed as the Sheriff in Dodge, but with little or no guidance from the suits at MLB.
The highly charged incident between Phillies manager Joe Girardi and Hall Of Fame bound Max Scherzer is a blot on the baseball season.
Likewise, images of Girardi bursting from the dugout with both fists raised at Scherzer is not the image MLB wishes to project, especially with their fans of the future, the young.
While comical, neither are the images of Sergio Romo dropping his pants as a response to being searched.
Trevor Bauer has issues with the resin bag, a legal foreign substance, as did Scherzer, who said after the game that he was “sick and tired of the awful taste left in his mouth” after licking his fingers (allowed) to get a better grip on the ball.
New York Mets players complain they still can’t get the image of their teammate Kevin Pillar‘s face being smashed in by a wayward fastball, advancing the displeasure from pitchers to everyone.
Trevor Bauer likens the situation in which radar guns are taken away from the police, but they are still sent out to issue speeding tickets, expecting motorists to be happy with the discretion of the ticket issuing officer.
In a few cases, the searches have gone down with ease, as witnessed by Jacob deGrom, who casually asked the umpire, “Tell me what you want” – “Hat, glove, and belt, please” came the reply by the umpire, and the game went on.
Ditto Gerrit Cole, MLB’s appointed Poster Boy for use of the sticky stuff. But these are two grounded professional pitchers, as opposed to the fiery nature of Girardi and Romo.
A Reader Offers A Solution
Solutions? There are many proposals but none are “sticking”.
One of the best ideas, though, comes from a reader of a previous article I wrote on the same subject. His suggestion…
Steven Red Cano Why don’t they do this? Instead of random checks. A team can use one of their “challenges” if THEY suspect a pitcher cheating and if they ask for a challenge and umpires find nothing (both catcher and pitchers are checked) that team loses their challenge and cannot use in-game for a replay. Thoughts?
Employing this idea would at least remove recent actions by managers from the situation, with no penalty attached as we have now.
It would also remove umpires from having to make random and discretionary selections as to when and who they are going to search.
As for myself, I have a newfound interest in listening to Trevor Bauer and what he has to say. The only thing is…will MLB do the same?
Here’s What Readers Are Saying…
Joshua Kaufman
Yes! 
Layla Es Trevor Bauer communicates??? Maybe. When he wants to. Certainly not when he and his agent deliberately led the Mets on.
Anthony Rivera I can’t stand the guy, but he’s usually in point
AJ Torres It’s a love and hate thing with him. But he’s helping change baseball for the better
Ken Scruggs Sorry, but to me, he is obnoxious and not funny. Just my thoughts, not my type of player.
Stephanie Lynn Guy made legitimate points
Michael Mohan What I find encouraging is Taijuan Walker is having a comparable season at around 1/3 the price and 1/10 (conservatively) the shenanigans.
Author’s Final Thoughts
We’ll close off published comments on this article, but as predicted, Trevor Bauer is a controversial figure on the set of baseball and the comments prove it.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
