The Most Controversial Player in Sports

this offseason trevor bauer signed a contract that gave him the highest salary in baseball history five months later bower has been banned for the rest of the 2021 season reports say that a majority of his teammates want him off the team for good and a combination of mlb owners executives and lawyers have told espn they believe he will never play a major league baseball game again but even before this trevor bauer has been the most controversial player in baseball for years in high school bauer was bullied by classmates teammates and even coaches so much he refused to play his senior season he's had an ongoing feud with one of the league's best pitchers since they were teammates in college and after a meltdown in a minor league playoff game and public beef with this major league catcher he was traded he responded by releasing a diss track yes my name is trevor you would never ever ever in a million years be clever enough to leverage me back he once do a baseball over the center field fence after being taken out of a game he's told batters what pitch was coming has pitch with one eye open was accused of pushing a fringe conspiracy theory on the mound during a major league baseball game and once just as they troll trevor bauer specifically requested his team pay him a salary of 6 million 420 969 dollars and 69 cents he said public feuds with multiple coaches teammates opponents and even mlb itself he's accused one of the league's best players of cheating several years later he likely used that same method of cheating to go from having the worst year of his career to being the best pitcher in baseball but after all of this controversy in 2021 trevor bauer was in the best position of his career until several severe criminal accusations became public which could end his major league career forever i want to warn you many of the details are graphic worry about trevor bauer is really ugly i think he's done jeremy d-o-n-e if you ask trevor bauer his parents and his coaches he shouldn't even be a major league pitcher because he is one of the worst athletes in the league sports illustrated says that he can't throw a football 10 yards he has an extremely low vertical jump and in his freshman year of high school he could only throw a baseball 78 miles per hour trevor bauer's success is based primarily on his pure obsession with throwing a baseball better than anyone else in the world and this led to dozens of stories of bauer being bullied starting in elementary school and one of these bullies even went on to be one of the league's best pitchers according to him he was shoved to the ground during recess while playing soccer because he would wear baseball pants to school but still refuse to wear anything else bauer had no friends so he would ride his bike to a tennis court to play catch with a fence kids in the neighborhood would make fun of him and call him a nerd for doing this so often by the time he was 10 bauer was already obsessed with mastering pitching and sought out extremely unorthodox methods of training to compensate for his lack of athleticism perhaps power's most notorious training method is his shoulder tube in high school he was made fun of for bringing it to every single one of his classes his jv baseball coach even told him he used it to overcompensate for having a small penis bower says he was miserable had no friends would spend lunch in his science teacher's classroom talking about the physics of baseball and would go to high school football games and have to sit with his dad trevor spent his first two seasons of high school on the freshman and jv team he was constantly at odds with coaches and teammates for his training methods and his refusal to listen to anybody's input but his junior year bauer won 16 of the 17 games he started had a 1.11 era and instantly became one of the best pitchers in this state according to him he was still threatened to be kicked off the team bower says he didn't get along with anybody in high school so he decided that he would not play his senior season no matter what thanks to having a 4.8 gpa he was able to enroll in ucla early and began pitching for the bruins as a 17 year old unfortunately for him the bullying did not stop before bauer threw a single pitch in college garrett cole called him out in front of the whole team during a workout saying that bauer had no future in baseball he didn't work hard and that he was a quote unquote the two barely talked again throughout college one coach at ucla says the odds of earth burning up are better than them ever talking again and this feud would go on well into their major league careers but garrett cole was not the only one at ucla who had problems with bauer as a freshman during the team's first road trip bauer's shoulder tube got lost by the airline he made the whole team wait at the airport for over an hour and apparently said he refused to pitch if he couldn't find it because it would put him at risk of injury his teammates began referring to his shoulder tube as his quote unquote penis pole and later got him back by stealing it hiding it in a tree and making him climb it to get it back another teammate says that he had to stop multiple players from fighting trevor because he would snap on people for patting him on the back after a bad inning another teammate says he talked to trevor once in college and was quote unquote good for a lifetime in one game against cal he faced his former high school teammate and the two had been talking trash all game after getting him to ground out for the last out bauer started yelling at him and the benches cleared bauer later said that the two hated each other in high school after bauer beamed him with a fastball on purpose during a practice because he called bauer out for playing shortstop instead of shagging balls in the outfield like the rest of the pitchers something trevor says he did for arm strength too many doing things like this is extremely self-absorbed and narcissistic but bower argues that his methods are backed by research so if he stays dedicated to his training he will become the best pitcher he can be which will only benefit the whole team and it is hard to argue that he was wrong because he legitimately became the best pitcher in the country in 2011 bauer won the golden spikes award had a 13-2 record and ended the season with nine consecutive complete games after the season bauer went third in the mlb draft and probably could have gone second but told the mariners he wouldn't sign for less than 20 million dollars which was three times higher than the previous record he ended up signing with the diamondbacks for 7.3 million solely because they were open to letting him continue his obscure training methods however four months later the gm who drafted bauer went to the angels and from that day on bauer says the organization quote unquote on him non-stop when entering the majors bauer immediately got the league's attention by doing a bizarre hour-long warm-up routine that required him to play catch across the field throwing 450 feet everyone in the world including the diamondbacks saw this as insane and predicted he would soon need elbow surgery reports say that bauer clashed with the front office with his coaches and his teammates several teammates told usa today he was a loner and refused any advice from coaches or players his main enemy was his catcher miguel montero who was immediately annoyed by bower shaking off an insane amount of pitches in his first several starts as a rookie montero told the media bauer never listened he didn't want to learn and was pissed about bauer's pre-inning ritual where he would get a running start and throw a fastball as hard as he could at his catcher montero thought it was useless and would end up killing someone bauer would be sent back to the miners where in a playoff game he reportedly had a meltdown after being taken out of a game and was forced to apologize to teammates which sparked the team to trade him only 18 months after being drafted and bower responded in the most outrageous way possible which i can confidently say has never happened in major league history after he was traded bauer released a rap song called you don't know me and was perceived by most as a direct diss track at his catcher miguel montero bower says it was not directed at anyone specifically however several lines in the song including one that says you hide behind a mask to facilitate a task but you don't know me seems pretty specific to a catcher this is one of several rap songs bow released with his friend under the name consummate foresight the one i need some love in breakfast in bed orange you send a muffin yeah a kiss and some cup at this point he was known by most as a pitcher trying to get established in the major leagues with a very strange training regimen which included weighted balls high-tech cameras and even a machine that would electrify his brain to temporarily help him learn new skills faster people were obviously skeptical about these methods including his pitching coach mickey calloway whose relationship with bauer apparently became so damaged in cleveland it was beyond repair bauer says that callaway once berated him for over an hour trying to convince him to throw more fastballs bauer refused someone in the organization told sports illustrated the team was 24 players plus trevor another player says he thinks trevor thinks about trevor a lot bower definitely rubs some people in cleveland the wrong way but not everyone players like mike clevenger corey kluber and shane bieber saw him as a great source of pitching knowledge and credit bauer for a big reason their pitching staff was so successful mike levenger says that bauer would go over film and correct his mechanics bauer essentially became a pitching coach for other pitchers in cleveland and had a hard time listening to the real pitching staff because honestly he probably knew more than that which according to clevenger made the indians very upset but this is not the only thing that got trevor in trouble in 2015 he picked up a new hobby making and flying drones mlb security once had to order him to stop flying his drones over the spring training facility he once accidentally crashed his drone into the progressive field scoreboard and the night before he was supposed to pitch in game two of the alcs he accidentally sliced his finger open trying to fix his homemade drone he had to skip his start the next day and tried to pitch in game three but after facing just four batters the bleeding got so out of control he had to leave the game all together i was plugging the battery in and my finger happened to be right here at this point in his career trevor's antics overshadowed his pitching he had never finished a season with an era below a four but that would soon all change in 2018 bauer was selected to his first all-star game led the league in fip put up a 2.21 era and finished sixth inside young voting but says he probably should have won his training methods everyone said were crazy began going mainstream and people around the league began to respect him as an elite pitcher around this time he began using social media more and more created his own production company and began filming documentary footage inside the clubhouse bauer publicly said his goal was to increase his twitter following from 100 000 to 10 million followers in three to five years to bower this meant trolling opponents and fans any chance he could in one start he drew bd 9 11 on the back of the mount which people on twitter and news media outlets speculated could translate to bush did 911 which does seem like something trevor might do but is adamant this was just a personal message to a close friend he made controversial opinions on who he voted for the liberal media obama climate change and illegal immigration he told one person on twitter to quit life he mentioned a college student on twitter over 80 times after she told him he was her least favorite player and even used her pictures to try to expose her for underage drinking he once did a charity campaign called 69 days of giving where he donated 420 dollars and 69 cents to a different charity selected by fans every day on the 69th day he picked his own charity and donated 69 420 and 69 cents to a charity of his choosing in arbitration he asked the indians for a salary of 6.9 million dollars after being convinced the number was too high he lowered it to six million four hundred and twenty thousand nine hundred and sixty nine dollars and sixty nine cents the indians and mlb cited his social media presence and obsession with obscene numbers for reasons they should pay him less and bower has even claimed mlb has made him stop using his twitter account for extended periods of time after 2018 bauer publicly told the media that 2019 would be his last season in cleveland he also promised that he would never sign a contract over one year long saying that he made a bet with a friend that if he did sign a multi-year deal he would allow him to shoot bauer in the balls with a paintball gun in a 2019 start against the kansas city royals bauer gave up seven runs in five innings he was pulled from the game and was so frustrated he heaved a ball from the pitcher's mound over the center field fence terry francona yelled at him and bower walked off the mound defeated three days later he was traded to the reds and his former manager terry francona publicly said he was worried about the clubhouse if bower would have stayed he also says that some trades are more emotional than others but his empowers last meeting was quote unquote pretty short bower would finish 2019 in cincinnati and stay there in 2020 which will probably go down as the most eventful of his career he put up a 1.73 era led the league in whip hits per nine complete games and won the nl side young award he also began screaming at batters doing the mcgregor strut or cleats with trash cans on them to troll the astros and pretended to chug beer cans after striking people out he was gaining popularity like crazy but bower was also almost certainly cheating years earlier bauer called out his former teammate garrett cole for what he claimed to be an unnatural ryzen spin rate due to a foreign substance bower claimed he could easily add 200 rpms to his fastball if he started cheating but didn't because he had morals to prove this in 2018 bauer's spin right suspiciously spiked for one inning then went back down to normal the inning after he then hinted that this was obviously done by using an illegal foreign substance his goal was to get mlb to crack down on these substances but after mlb did nothing and having a terrible year in 2019 bauer went from having an average spin rate to having the best in the league something bower said himself was absolutely impossible without cheating but at the time it really didn't matter because many pitchers were using this substance and mlb had turned a blind eye he put up the best year of his career in that offseason he signed a three-year 102 million dollar contract the highest salary in major league history bauer publicly said he would limit his controversial tweets but on the field he became even more controversial in a spring trading game after giving up three home runs in one inning bauer told the media that he wasn't even trying which made the mariners manager pretty upset and i just wanted to know that our guys weren't trying the first warnings we decided to try in the fifth inning i know he he had said maybe he wasn't in the fifth but our guys were trying in the fifth we just didn't take it seriously the first three mornings did they have both eyes open no our guys were hitting with one eye shut bower also began pitching with one eye open to troll batters in at-bat against jose ramirez he pitched with one eye open told him what pitches were coming struck him out and laughed in his face after hitting a double off him and beating the reds in the playoffs ronald nacuna went on twitter and told bower to go home bauer responded by saying he promised he would strike out acuna with one eye shut in 2021 which he did after hitting a home run against bauer in april fernando tati's junior covered one eye while running the bases to mock him later in the game he hit another home run against bauer and mocked his mcgregor strut after the game people on twitter accused tatis of stealing bauer's signs bauer called him out for it and tatis responded by posting a photoshop of him being bauer's father other people bauer has had beef with include the entire astros roster he was likely the first person to accuse them for using buzzers in a very cryptic tweet months before the rumors became public what everyone's going to play in their cards so put my lucky band-aid on i figured it might give me a little edge he also trolled alex bregman on twitter what's up little buddy did i dominate you last night [Music] he called bregman his buddy but bregman disagreed no we're not friends marcus strowman once subtly came after bauer by replying to a tweet that called him racist bauer responded by telling him to stop subtweeting him and to admit he doesn't like him he said beef was superstar agent scott boris who he says doesn't care about his players after he accused boris of trying to stop him from vlogging at mlb stadiums bauer has gone after mlb and specifically rob manfred after he suspended joe kelly for throwing at carlos correa for cheating bower tried to wear cleats that set free joe kelly on them but says mlb threatened to eject him find him and suspend him if he did this past season bauer was sent a warning for wearing a belt with a personal brand on it he silently responded to mlb by doing a press conference with a taped piece of paper that said not my logo don't find me sure not my logo don't find me would you like to say anything about that bauer went after journalist ken rosenthal who he called a gossip blogger after he reported that mlb had confiscated baseballs from bauer during games to investigate his foreign substance use bauer says the report was misleading because mlb confiscated balls from every pitcher across the league for the same reason but in 2021 bauer was seen by many as the most obvious abuser he was continuing his dominance from 2020 and his spin rate was the highest in the league and even higher than it was in 2020 bauer wanted mlb to start cracking down on the substance but when mlb finally did he still had problems with the enforcement saying it was unfair to do in the middle of the season and said he could make his hand just as sticky in a legal way about the sticky stuff that about pitchers using and i was just wondering what your reaction is to that [Laughter] all eyes were on bauer to see if he could continue his dominance without a foreign substance but bauer barely got a chance to pitch under these new enforcement policies because on june 29th bauer was accused of something that not only ended his 2021 season may end his mlb career and could possibly put him in jail a woman filed a restraining order after having two romantic encounters with bauer in 2021 where she says he assaulted her resulting in injuries so severe she was forced to go to the hospital bauer his agent and lawyers immediately denied these claims but a few days after mlb placed him on paid leave and opened up their own investigation the lapd also opened up an investigation and bower was sent to go to civil court but while bauer was preparing to go to court the washington post reported that another woman had previously filed for a restraining order against bower accusing him of very similar crimes in 2019. bauer and lawyers have denied her claims she has dismissed her request for restraining order has not pressed any further charges but has cooperated with mlb a judge has recently rescinded the most recent restraining order against bower saying that he does not currently pose a threat to the woman and did not quote unquote exceed the limits that the practitioner set basically saying that she believed the relationship was consensual this is good news for bower in terms of the legal system and may sway the lapd from charging bauer of a crime however according to jeff passan who interviewed dozens of mlb owners executives and lawyers they almost all agreed that bauer would never play again whether bauer is charged or not a suspension is almost definitely coming but even after that suspension the dodgers may not want him back his teammates justin turner chris taylor mookie betts max muncie albert pools and dustin may have all unfollowed him and a report from the la times say that a majority of dodgers players don't want him back on the team no matter what the dodgers front office probably agrees and are currently paying him to sit at home if bauer is cleared to play it is likely he will have to go to court with the dodgers who may argue that these off the field issues were a breach of his contract allowing them to release him without paying him in that case it would be up to the other 29 teams to decide whether or not trevor bauer's talent is worth the extreme public backlash he will bring to the team and if this happens bauer will re-enter the league the exact same way he left as the most controversial player in baseball

Channel: Baseball Doesn't Exist

Views: 236,041

Rating: 4.8903093 out of 5

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Id: Kcne0vP4NNE

Length: 21min 34sec (1294 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 21 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/centagon]

I dont know anything about baseball, but it seems like he just draws a lot of ire for being unorthodox. Then 20 years later, suddenly he's rebranded as a prodigy and a misunderstood innovator ahead of his time. This isn't exclusive to baseball. I'm not saying ALL his routines are beneficial, but they might be for him, since even a superstitious warm-up can be part of establishing his mental state. Understandably, some things may damage him in the long-run, but don't sign him if you want a long-term investment, or plan accordingly.

Unfortunately, he's got some personality issues and lashes out a lot, which isn't helping. But if a team is going to sign a weirdo with weird routines... Who's fault is that? Hiring managers knew what they were getting into, and it's their job to ensure that a new hire fits with the team dynamic.

[u/Neoxite23]

That was actually quite the watch. Not shocked it went into physical assault.

[u/Brobotz]

His vlog was actually very entertaining if you are a baseball fan. But if you read the articles recounting the sexual assault charges, things get pretty grimey. Unless charges are dropped and it somehow comes out that none of it was true, it’s pretty likely he’ll never play in the MLB again.