Trevor Bauer reminiscences historic 2020 NL Cy Young win with dominant 1.73 ERA, first in Reds' franchise history
On November 11, 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trevor Bauer was announced by MLB as the winner of the National League Cy Young Award. He had posted a dominant campaign during the shortened 60-game season, beating Yu Darvish and Jacob de Grom to become the first Cincinnati Reds pitcher to claim the honor.
Bauer reflected on the crowning achievement of his career with an Instagram story to highlight his outstanding achievements in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season.
Trevor Bauer joined the Cincinnati Reds in the middle of the 2019 campaign in an exchange trade with the Cleveland Indians at the trade deadline.
Following a rough start, he was at the peak of his powers the next year, after the MLB had announced a late start to the season that was cut down to 60 games due to the pandemic.
Bauer made 11 starts in total during the 2020 season, finishing with a miserly 1.73 ERA, besides leading the NL with an astonishing 0.795 WHIP and just 5.1 hits per nine innings. He also led the MLB by posting two complete game shutouts that year. He pitched 73 innings in the regular season with 100 strikeouts and later set the Reds postseason record for the most punchouts as well.
As a result, Trevor Bauer was nearly a unanimous choice for the NL Cy Young Award after earning 27 of 30 total votes. He became the first recipient of the honor for a Reds pitcher, despite the franchise being in existence for almost 140 years. That made him the first Golden Spikes winner, given to the best amateur baseball player, to claim a Cy Young award.
Trevor Bauer's exile from baseball
Following his record-setting season, Bauer rejected a qualifying offer from the Cincinnati Reds at the start of the 2021 campaign before joining the Los Angeles Dodgers on a three-year, $102 million deal. However, he only made 17 starts for the Dodgers when he was handed administrative leave on July 2, 2021, after allegations of sexual assault emerged.
On April 29, 2022, MLB comissionner Rob Manfred announced a 324-game suspension for Trevor Bauer. The ban was later reduced to 194 by an arbitrator in Dec. 22, 2022, and Bauer was reinstated immediately having already served his sentence. Nevertheless, the Dodgers severed ties with the player by releasing him on Jan. 12, 2023.
Since then, Bauer hasn't appeared for any major league team during the regular season. He resumed his professional career by playing for the DeNA BayStars in Nippon Professional Baseball, the baseball league of Japan.
In 2024, Bauer joined the Diablos Rojos del Mexico, a powerhouse of the Mexican League. He won Serie del Rey, the championship title, this year and was also named the 2024 Mexican League Pitcher of the Year.