GLENDALE, Arizona – Trevor Bauer has plunged into an emerging rivalry between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres with one eye closed.
The Dodgers’ precious off-season acquisition sailed through the first half against Padres on Saturday afternoon, especially with his right eye closed, a training method he said he frequently uses as a means of feeling uncomfortable.
“I thought if I couldn’t sign with one eye open, it would be difficult to sign with two eyes open,” Bauer said after throwing three scoreless innings from the Dodgers facility. “Just have some fun.”
Bauer did not go into detail about why he occasionally chooses to keep his eyes closed, although Dodgers manager Dave Roberts mentioned that it has to do with recalibrating his order.
“I think there might have been one curve that I think he did with both eyes closed,” Roberts said as he laughed. “I don’t know, but there’s a method to his madness.”
Bauer, 30, said he usually keeps at least one eye closed in bullpen sessions while playing long throws and facing off-season hitters, adding that he likes to “make me uncomfortable and throw different things my way and try to find a solution to it. “
Bauer gave Jurickson Profar a single to start his outing, capping with a nine-step shot, then sent a walk to Tommy Pham before retiring the next three beats, the last two on strike. In the next two innings – with both eyes open, it seems – he withdrew six of the seven strikers he faced.
The Padres came from a game Friday night and didn’t play most of their starters, which meant Bauer didn’t get a new crack at third baseman Manny Machado, who is famously fighting .588 / .667 / .1.412 against him in 17 career appearances. Bauer previously made a YouTube video analyzing Machado’s success against him, and Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman joked about his desire to figure something out against Machado shortly after he signed on Bauer on a three-year, $ 102 million contract last month.
Bauer joked that Machado was “already hiding me” because it wasn’t the trip.
When the games start counting, Bauer said he will have many chances against him.
“Wait,” Bauer said behind an ironic smile. “It’s going to be a fun year.”