Cleveland Indians 2013 Top Prospects No. 2: Trevor Bauer

Its going to be really hard for me to not make this article one giant express of my Trevor Bauer man-crush.

If you don’t follow me on Twitter (you should) you have not seen me completely geek out over everything Bauer related with my totally original and awesome hashtag I am convinced will become a thing: #BauerPauer. I named my coveted fantasy team after Bauer. I’ve been crazy about him since his days at UCLA, and heartbroken when I realized he was probably not going to be available at Cleveland’s pick in the 2011 MLB Draft.

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But man, am I scared about his future.

There’s a lot of opinions out there about Bauer right now, both good and bad. But the raw facts are this is a proven college starter with a 97 mph fastball and deadly curveball. The question for Bauer is control. There are also makeup concerns from some, but seeing as I’ve never got to meet the guy myself and enough has been written about it, I’ll stay away from that.

Bauer’s Tribe debut made him feel like the ugly kid at the school dance–everyone just kept walking away. Seven times, to be exact. In college, Bauer’s stuff had so much movement that he was able to get college hitters to chase it out of the zone. Now, Major League hitters are more patient and less likely to swing at those pitches as often as college hitters. Bauer still gets the strikeouts, but hands out way too many free passes.

At Triple-A Columbus, Bauer will focus on throwing all his pitches for strikes, and how effectively he is able to do that is what will determine his fate. Bauer can be a dominant number two starter if he can do this effectively, or be relegated to the bullpen down the road as much as it pains me to say that.

While many see only the downside of Bauer, they do not truly appreciate the immense upside of this man’s right arm. He is not even two years removed from being the number three overall pick in the draft, and can be the top-flight arm Cleveland has been dying for.

Previous Top Prospects

• Honorable Mentions
• No. 15: Jordan Smith
• No. 14: Kieran Lovegrove
• No. 13: D’Vone McClure
• No. 12: Jesus Aguilar
• No. 11: Danny Salazar
• No. 10: Tony Wolters
• No. 9: Ronny Rodriguez
• No. 8: LeVon Washington
• No. 7: Luigi Rodriguez
• No. 6: Jose Ramirez
• No. 5: Mitch Brown
• No. 4: Tyler Naquin
• No. 3: Dorssys Paulino