Baseball: Clippers' Trevor Bauer pitches in to improve
A year later, Trevor Bauer really is starting the International League season opener for the Clippers against Indianapolis tonight at Huntington Park.
Bauer, Cleveland’s top pitching prospect heading into the 2013 season, was scheduled to make an opening-day start at Indianapolis that April, but didn’t for the best of reasons.
The Tribe, instead, recalled him to pitch against Tampa Bay on April 6. Bauer allowed just two hits in five innings but walked a career-high seven in a 6-0 loss. Even so, he returned to the Clippers seemingly unperturbed by the experience.
Yet, what appeared to be an aberration for Bauer turned into a five-month challenge with his control and his fastball. An uneven season with the Clippers led to the Indians not giving him a September call-up when rosters expanded.
A year later, Bauer, 23, acknowledged the disappointment with a nod.
“I didn’t deserve to be there,” he said. “I know that.”
His plan to change that reality began soon after he got home to Texas, in September.
“I started lifting the last week of September,” Bauer said. “I started throwing in October.
I had already started working out before the big-league team was done playing. So I got
October, November, December and January of solid training time in, which is the longest offseason I’ve had. I fixed my mechanics by the middle of November. Then I worked on my command and velocity after that.”
Bauer reported to spring training better prepared to be successful.
“My stuff is back to where I’m used to having it,” he said. “My fastball velocity is back to where I’m used to having it. So it should be a good year.”
When the Indians acquired Bauer from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Dec. 11, 2012, scouting reports touted his fastball as being in the mid-to–upper 90s. The zip never surfaced last season in Columbus, or in three more starts for the Indians. He sat mostly in the 91- to 92-mph area.
“Hopefully, 94 is going to be a low this year, and then up to 100,” Bauer said. “I don’t know if I’ll hit 100. But that’s a goal. I expect myself to hit 100 by the time I’m 25. We’ll see. I have goals, but my velocity probably should stabilize in the 94 to 96 range.”
Clippers manager Chris Tremie saw improvement in Bauer during spring training.
“He was just working through some things last year,” Tremie said. “But he has made a lot of positive strides. He had a very good spring. I think it can be special this year watching him pitch.”
Bauer said he feels more comfortable in his second season in the Cleveland organization.
“I know everybody coming back,” he said. “This is the first time I’ve repeated spring training with a team. I know how things run. I know the schedule and the culture. So it’s easier to focus on the hard stuff.”
Through all the struggles of 2013, Bauer never strayed from his goal.
“I never felt lost because I knew where I was going,” he said. “I just had to get there. That was the issue. I always had a plan. I knew what I wanted my mechanics to look like. It’s tough to change during the season because you get some good reps and then some bad reps because you have to try to get guys out. It was a struggle all year.”
Bauer is eager to start the season and eager to succeed.
“(The Indians) want me to work on my fastball command and to work on my command in general,” he said. “They want me to get guys out and be consistent doing it. And then we’ll see where it ends up.”
jmassie@dispatch.com