When former Dodgers star Trevor Bauer stopped caring about criticisms to fuel his baseball success
In a February 2019 Sports Illustrated interview, former Los Angeles Dodgers star Trevor Bauer opened up about conquering jibes from school bullies to achieve baseball greatness.
From an early age, Trevor was admitted to a private coach for taking pitching lessons by his father. Due to his baseball mania, Bauer had fewer friends in school and was bullied by his peers. Trevor mentioned that the social alienation that comes with bullying was difficult and he was never able to understand why people hated him. However, the former MLB star was able to eventually find a way to cope with it by developing a macho attitude.
As per Sports Illustrated:
"One morning, during his junior year at Hart, Bauer returned home from an early pool workout, took a shower and looked at himself in the mirror, feeling sorry for himself as usual. Then something flipped. “I don’t see anything that I dislike,” he told himself. “I’m going to go off to college and play baseball. I’m successful. I’m smart. I like myself.” From that day forward, he says, “I just stopped giving a f--- what people thought of me. And now I just don’t care.”
Trevor Bauer skipped the last half of high school because he disliked it. Next, he went to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to study Mechanical Engineering in 2009 and joined the UCLA Bruins Baseball team.
Trevor Bauer and Gerrit Cole were both part of the UCLA Bruins Baseball team
Former LA Dodgers star Trevor Bauer and New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole were both part of the UCLA Bruins Baseball team while they attended the university. They had a contentious relationship that started when Cole said to Bauer that he wouldn't make it in the sport of baseball.
“He told me in front of everybody that I had no future in baseball, that I didn’t work hard, and that I’m a p----,” Bauer said. “I was like, ‘F--- you, Gerrit.’ ”
Years down the line, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Gerrit Cole first overall in the 2011 MLB draft, while Trevor was the third pick in the 2011 MLB draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Currently, Cole plays for the Yankees.
On the other hand, Bauer was released by the Dodgers in January 2023 after being suspended by MLB for a sexual assault allegation. Recently, he signed with the NPB's Yokohama DeNA BayStars.