Cleveland Indians: What is Wrong with Trevor Bauer?

By Joe Russo | Aug 18, 2015

Consistency is now affecting the Cleveland Indians starting pitching staff, specifically a pitcher who has all the talent to be something special.

It’s been a tale of two halves for Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer. After topping 100 strikeouts before the MLB All-Star break, the wheels have fallen off the promising young pitcher. Now, Bauer is at best the fourth best arm in the rotation. That’s only by default since the fifth starter has been a revolving door with the likes of T.J. House, Bruce Chen, Cody Anderson, and now the perpetually injured Josh Tomlin.

Before the break, Bauer was holding opponents to a paltry .218 batting average. Since then, that number has spiked up to .265. That may not be a huge number in an of itself, but that’s still nearly fifty points higher than it was previously. The other splits are just as ugly:

– 3.76 ERA before the break, but 6.11 after

– 1.215 WHIP before the break, but 1.42 after

– 6.18 innings per start before the break, but 5.85 after

– 12 home runs before the break, and already 11 after

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In fact, Bauer has seen his ERA steadily climb each start. On June 4th, his ERA leveled out at 2.94. After only 12 starts since, Bauer’s ERA is now at 4.35. That does not include his stat line from Tuesday’s dumpster fire of a start where Bauer went 1.2 innings and allowed five earned runs on only 6 hits. That should bump his overall ERA up to 4.62. Yikes.

After digging into the numbers, there are a couple of other statistical quirks. For example, his lefty versus righty batting average splits are within 5 points (.227 against .232). But, batters are hitting .308 in 0-1 counts, .367 in 1-1 counts, and a whopping .484 in 1-0 counts. Sure, it’s not that strong of an indicator, but it does show that hitters are tagging him early in the count and jumping on Bauer before he settles in.

Another scary set of stats are his home and away splits. In fact, this, until tonight, had been the strongest indicator of any of his issues. It’s as if there are two different pitchers, home Bauer and road Bauer:

Home- 6.07 ERA, 4-6 record, 16 home runs given up, a 1.45 WHIP, and a .268 batting average

Away- 2.35 ERA, 5-3 record, 7 home runs given up, a 1.06 WHIP, and a .181 batting average

Tuesday night’s disaster aside, Bauer has been significantly worse here in Cleveland. Typically, pitching at home allows pitchers to keep a more familiar routine and perform in front of a friendlier crowd.

Instead, it looks as if Bauer is more comfortable away from the hometown fans. At the end of the day, he’s a very talented pitcher that is still figuring it all out. Don’t forget that Bauer is only 24 years old and the ace of the staff, Corey Kluber, was 28 years old when he hit his peak and won a Cy Young award.

Bauer will figure it out or he will quickly find a second team has already run out of patience. Whether it be a mental issue like 2014 or the growing pains of a young big leaguer, Bauer is going to have to pitch well for the Tribe to have any hope in 2015.

Next: Cleveland Indians: Corey Kluber Should Win A.L. Cy Young Award

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