All-Star Pitcher Still Grounded As MLB, Players Union Extend Administrative Leave

The Los Angeles Dodgers will not have Trevor Bauer back for at least one more week.

The 31-year-old starting pitcher is under administrative leave, and this was originally set to expire on April 16.

However, the MLB and its players’ association have reportedly extended it through April 22, a league source told Stephanie Apstein of Sports Illustrated.

Bauer’s last piece of MLB action was in June 2021. He was placed on a seven-day administrative leave in July due to alleged sexual misconduct and domestic violence.

According to a woman from Southern California, the 2020 NL Cy Young Award winner allegedly choked her unconscious, punched her repeatedly, and engaged in intercourse without her consent in two encounters that reportedly happened last year.

Jon Fetterolf and Rachel Luba--Bauer agents--reiterated that the administrative leave is not a disciplinary action.

With Bauer’s status still unclear, the Dodgers will have to rely on a rotation headlined by Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler and Julio Urias.

Aside from the three, Tony Gonsolin, David Price and Andrew Heaney were also signed to one-year deals back in November with uncertainty hovering over Bauer’s return, ABC 7 reported.

Incidentally, Kershaw showed signs of promise when he almost had his first perfect game for the Dodgers.

As reported in a previous post, Kershaw was performing well against the Minnesota Twins before he was pulled out by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

This move upset Dodgers fans even though the 34-year-old pitcher emphasized that Roberts’ move to pull him out was the right decision.

He publicly defended the Dodgers manager and said it was the right decision according to David Vessegh of Dodger Talk.

“As much as I would have wanted to do it, I’ve thrown 75 pitches in a sim game… I would have loved to stay, but bigger things,” Kershaw stated to book author Jon Weisman. “I knew going in my pitch count wasn’t going to be 100 let alone 90. It’s a hard thing to do, coming out of a game like that, but like I said, we’re here to win, and this is the right choice.”