Trevor Bauer is possibly the most unlikeable person on the planet based purely on personality. Sure there are people that have done more horrid acts like Chairman Mao.... but my guess is if I locked you in a room with Hitler and Bauer, you would leave the room complaining about what a douche Bauer is.
Passan https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...ks-bubble-ball-passan-mlb-latest-2020-battles Prior to 2020, Bauer's career average spin rate on his four-seam fastball has been 2,306 revolutions per minute, according to Statcast. Last season, it ticked up to 2,412 rpm. This year? It's 2,801 rpm, the highest in the major leagues among pitchers who have thrown at least 50 four-seamers. Bauer has seen significant upticks in each of his other three main pitches. His pre-2020 career average, 2019 average and 2020 average RPMs: Curveball: 2,535, 2,549, 2,840 Slider: 2,649, 2,736, 2,982 Cutter: 2,504, 2,640, 2,901 How has he made such extraordinary spin-rate leaps on each of his pitches? Well, in 2018, Bauer tweeted: "My fastball is about 2250 rpm on average. I know for a fact I can add 400 rpm to it by using pine tar. Look how much better I would be if I didn't have morals..." What he meant by "morals" was illustrated in a previous tweet, which said: "The rules should be enforced as they're written. Pine tar is more of a competitive advantage in a given game than steroids are." The use of pine tar as a grip agent by pitchers is time honored. While MLB's foreign-substance rule outlaws it, the league enforces the regulation only when it is so blatantly and egregiously obvious the public outcry practically demands it or managers ask umpires for a foreign-substance check that reveals illicit sticky stuff. Perhaps it is just coincidence that Bauer has said he could add 400 rpm to his fastball by using pine tar and has added almost exactly 400 rpm this season. There is no clear evidence that he has used a foreign substance in 2020. The numbers also don't lie. High-spin fastballs, as a graphic included in the first Bauer tweet referenced above indicates, are far more effective than their lower-spin brethren. Bauer's past questioning on the subject sought consistency. Either enforce the rule or don't and legalize grip enhancements for pitchers. Because otherwise, the incentive is there for pitchers to start using them. Those who don't are costing themselves money and their teams wins. Bauer, on the cusp of free agency, is set to cash in if he keeps pitching like he has. The Reds, who have playoff aspirations, could use that ace-level performance if they want to make the postseason. And it would be just like Bauer to relinquish that moral underpinning simply to prove a point about baseball's seeming double standard when it comes to foreign substances and how much better they really can make pitchers.
Reading through the past couple pages in this thread, it sure is a godsend that the predictions that Bauer might end up on the Astros never came to pass. Couldn't care less about his abilities or lack thereof. Guy just has one of those terrible personalities where he thinks everyone needs to hear everything he says, and he's thinks he's funny when he's just cringeworthy. Dodged a bullet there.
