Cleveland Indians: Trevor Bauer, the Grasshopper

Cleveland Indians: Trevor Bauer, the Grasshopper

There are very few of us that can pitch. Even less that can say they pitched at the pro level; and how many people can say that they can coach and teach? Trevor Bauer is one of the few that can. 

Bauer joined the Cleveland Indians as part of a 9 player 3 team trade, which saw the Indians ship out Shin-Soo Choo and Jason Donald to the Reds, and Tony Sipp and Lars Anderson to the Diamondbacks, while receiving Bauer along with Drew Stubbs, Matt Albers, and Bryan Shaw from the Reds and Diamondbacks. Trevor was 21 at the time of the deal, a pitcher out of UCLA, and was the 3rd overall pick in the 2011 Amateur Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Bauer was said to have had 19 different pitches and was famous for his long-toss regime.

Trevor is said to throw a four-seam fastball, two different change-ups, two different curveballs, a dot slider, a circle slider, reverse slider (which acts like a left-handed cut fastball, that is a cross between a sinking fastball and a screwball) and finally a split-finger fastball. Two years ago Trevor said that he, “rewrote the neuromuscular programming in his body”, to change his delivery.

Trevor’s warm up regimen is unusual compared to most pitchers in Major League Baseball. Using the music from the PA in the stadium for motivation, Trevor throws a long toss from foul pole to foul pole – around 400 feet. To reference, a professional football field is 120 yards or 360 feet. “The combination of the music and long toss was very therapeutic for me:, Bauer said of the long toss routine. Trevor, as an 11-year-old attended a clinic in California with the guru of the long toss with the self-proclaimed “non-scientific” expert Alan Jaeger. Alan said, “You knowing your bones exactly what happens when you long toss. You become an athlete. You stretch your arm out. You free yourself up to become natural” Bauer, says that there is a right way and a wrong way to long toss, “Most important is that you listen to your body, Listen to your arm”.

Through Bauer’s website, you can watch him demonstrate pitching mechanics. High-speed cameras break down every pitch; showing release points, arm angles, and various grips. Through the camera angles you can see how subtle arm movements and grips can make the world of a difference in how the ball reacts out of the hand.

Trevor, now 25, is signed with the Tribe until the 2020 season and will become a free agent in 2021. A man of many talents, his hobbies include poetry, song writing, and rapping. He once built a drone which he flew over the Indians spring training grounds in Arizona. And who could forget last season when he mimicked the batting stances in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, imitating Mike Aviles, Ryan Raburn and Jason Kipnis.

Next: Indians Top Prospects: #3 Brady Aiken

Bauer is a big league pitcher with a beautiful mind; the ultimate student and teacher of the game of baseball.