Trevor Bauer – Starting Pitcher
1st Round #3 Overall Pick – 2011 MLB Draft –
Drafted By: Arizona Diamondbacks
Bonus: $4.45 Million Guaranteed – Potential For $7MM
Scouting Trips:
Seen in person 1 time
Visalia Rawhide vs. Stockton Ports – 8-4-2011
Watching Trevor Bauer warm-up before the game was worth the price of admission. The stretching routine featured upward of 20 bodily contortions. I turned my back for a second and when I flipped around he was doing hand stands. Bauer’s concentration only waning when he would rock out for a second to a tune on his iPod. And this was all before the long-toss session – which was the most impressive display of throwing a baseball I’ve seen. Ever.
The baseball diamond couldn’t contain Trevor Bauer’s long toss session. At it’s peak – Bauer was standing as close to the right field foul pole as possible – throwing to his catcher who was at the left field foul pole. Absolutely visually stunning. I’ve never seen a ball travel that far across the entire width of the outfield. Blew my mind. They had a cutoff man for the catcher throwing the ball back to Bauer.
The pressure was on for the UCLA kid – as many T-Shirts in the stands bore the Bruin logo – which is an unusual sight in Northern California. Aside from friends and family, many important people were in the stands, including Bauer’s agent, special assistant to the president and Dback great Luis Gonzalez, and Senior Vice President of Scouting & Player Development Jerry Dipoto. If Bauer was trying to show off in front of the Diamondback’s brass before the game – it probably worked. I didn’t know that the comparison to Tim Lincecum had been made already before I saw Bauer pitch. Lincecum is indeed the guy who he looks like when pitching to me. Being a Giants fan myself, I’ve seen Tim pitch dozens of times and while Bauer’s stuff might not be as electric as when Lincecum first broke into the minors – Trevor may have more in his repertoire.
During the game – Bauer’s four seam fastball was consistently hitting 93-95 MPH out of the windup – and all 4 scout radar guns were showing the same readings. Out of the stretch he didn’t lose much life on the fastball – still in the 90-95 range. Bauer has a multitude of pitches and you can read about them here. “I throw a four-seam fastball, I throw two variations of the curveball, two variations of the slider, two variations of the change-up, a split fingered fastball and two variations of a reverse-slider, which is kind of a cross between a fastball and a screwball.” Bauer said in the article. His off-speed pitches ranged from 77 (change-up or curve) to 89 MPH. He does have legit movement with all his pitches but had trouble with his control on this night.
Final line: 3 IP – 2 Hits 2 ER 3 Walks 6 SO. He was on a pitch count – as this was just his second minor league game. The 2 earned runs came off a 2-Run Home Run by Oakland A’s 2008 9th Round Pick Mitch LeVier. Overall I was impressed by Bauer’s work ethic and his ability to throw multiple pitches at an early age. Many believe that Bauer will begin the 2012 season in the Arizona rotation and could even be called up at the back half of 2011 for the pennant run – which could include a stint in the MLB bullpen.
Trading Cards: Trevor Bauer prospect cards could potentially show up in 2011 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks and if he does indeed make it to the Major Leagues by years end – Topps could squeeze him into late issued sets with the “Rookie Card Logo”. Expect to see many more Bauer Topps trading cards at the start of 2012.
Arizona Diamondbacks Legend Luis Gonzalez
Trevor Bauer works out pregame with a weight
