Trevor Bauer had an excellent outing against the Royals last night, allowing two runs while pitching into the eighth inning and picking up the W. It’s been a fantastic year overall for Bauer, in fact. He’s got a 2.45 ERA a WHIP of 1.09 and 156 strikeouts against only 37 walks in 121.1 innings. While his rotation-mate Corey Kluber is the ace of the staff, Bauer himself has been a top-10 pitcher in the American League this year and, depending on how you measure it, has an argument for being in the top 5.
That’s the sort of performance that should land him on the All-Star team. And, unlike most guys who play the “that’s out of my hands” card when asked about it, Bauer is pretty straightforward when it comes to his candidacy for the Midsummer Classic:
Trevor Bauer: "I should be an All-Star. I'd imagine I will be and if I'm not, they didn't get it right, whoever they is. I'm glad I'm pitching well. That's been the goal, I feel like I should be an All-Star every year. That's the standard I hold myself to."
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) July 5, 2018
I imagine from a lot of guys this would come off as unexpected or even arrogant, but Bauer is a pretty non-filtered guy, for better and for worse. When he pitches awesome he acknowledges it. When he pitches poorly he says so too. When it comes to non-baseball stuff he says a lot of stuff I think is nuts but you can never doubt that he believes what he says and does not believe in couching it to conform to others’ expectations regarding how athletes should talk. Again, for better and for worse.
When it comes to the All-Star Game at least, he’s dead-on. He should be in D.C. for the game on July 17. If he’s not, he got robbed.