Ball Played: Bauer at home in Houston

When one goal is to make it into the ESPN Magazine Body Issue, intense training best be high on the priority list. For Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Trevor Bauer, it certainly is, which is why he trusts the team at DST Performance to help him build his body for the marathon season of MLB. And, perhaps spending so much time during the offseason in Texas has given him an extra layer of comfort when facing the Houston Astros (13-21) as Bauer once again dominated their lineup during a 4-0 shutout victory for the Cleveland Indians (16-14).

As WFNY reported when covering the Indians player development, partnerships with trusted trainers is a huge portion of a successful development cycle.¹ Kevin Poppe, Director of Operations at DST North, and others at DST are the people who see first hand how Trevor Bauer works out with the MiLB players rather than private workouts, how he checks in on those players during the season, and how he is always willing to interact and help anyone who has a question.²

Poppe even attended the first College Football National Championship game with Bauer. Being a west coast guy, Bauer was all-in on the Oregon Ducks, so Poppe took some smart action on the eventual champion Ohio State Buckeyes. The payoff? Control of the @BauerOutage twitter account for 10 days where Poppe saw just how cruel people can be on social media to athletes.

So, it was no surprise the DST team would be at Minute Maid Park in Houston cheering Bauer on.

DST Trainers enjoying the @Indians @astros game! Rooting for DST Athlete & starting @Indians pitcher, @BauerOutage pic.twitter.com/3UfX7dXW1R

— DST Performance (@DST_Houston) May 11, 2016

From afar, Bauer is seen as an X-factor for the 2016 Cleveland Indians who might be the perfect player to give the Tribe what is needed to be a true championship contender. The different mentality, multitude of pitches, and obsession with perfecting his craft add to the intrigue and narrative. Many are rooting for him, some are confused by him, but all Indians fans can appreciate nights such as Tuesday when everything is working for him.

Keys of the Game

Bauer keeps ’em guessing

Bauer is at his best when he is working his multitude of pitches in quick succession giving the hitters no indication of what to expect. A batter cannot merely sit on a pitch when it might not even be thrown during their plate appearance.

On Tuesday, Bauer used the entire scope of the strike zone and outside of it. Pitch f/x registered six different pitch types for him though he is known to throw as many as eight (the tool sometimes has difficulties differentiating between some pitch types). He threw 104 pitches in the game and double-digits with five of these registered types. The only pitch he threw less was the slider, which he threw three times. Twice the battered whiffed, once weak contact resulted in an out.

Bauer also varied his velocity greatly. His fastball touched 98 mph, while sitting at 95 mph. His curve dropped to as low as 76 mph. Given his willingness to mix in the pitches at any time, being an Astro with a bat on Tuesday had to be incredibly frustrating attempting to time his pitches.

In four games now against the Houston Astros in his career (all starts), Bauer is 4-0 with a 0.67 ERA, 0.889 WHIP, 36 SO, and 11 BB in 27.0 IP. Seems everything just goes right when Bauer faces them. Heck, even Chris Gimenez is throwing out runners by five feet.

https://vine.co/v/i2AXEFvKb3F

Bunting gone right

Hey, sometimes the sacrifice bunt does the job needed. There are great arguments for how and why the run expectancy chart shows a higher value for runners on 1B and 2B with no outs than 2B and 3B with one out. But, the conglomerate average does not account for the randomness of a singular event. So, when it works, it works.

via http://tangotiger.net/re24.html

Jose Ramirez sacrified Mike Napoli (single) and Carlos Santana (walk) over in the second inning. After Juan Uribe knocked in Napoli, Lonnie Chisenhall came through with a huge double in order to score Santana. Run expectancy or not, the Indians scored two crucial runs to give themselves a cushion the rest of the game.

In the eighth, it was Napoli again providing offense as he just missed a home run. Sure, he ended up being out at third attempting to recreate the triple Jason Kipnis has earlier in the inning, but Lindor scored the fourth and final run for the Indians. As noted, Kipnis tripled earlier in the inning and Lindor drove him in for the third run, which was great to see given the recent offensive struggles for Kipnis.

https://vine.co/v/i2AdAgd2h2E

Bullpen locking things up

Bryan Shaw (eighth inning) and Cody Allen (ninth inning) were brought into their customary spots despite the non-save situation as manager Terry Francona was not about to mess with such a great game.

Shaw continued his dominant stretch since Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus gave him flak about his wedding ring. Marwin Gonzalez managed a single, but Shaw retired the next three Astro batters. And Allen did give up a walk, but it seemed only due to him wanting to see the game end with a double play.

MIABoG – Pitching edition

The most important at bat of the game came when Trevor Bauer had to face Jose Altuve with former Indian Luis Valbuena on third base in the fifth inning and two outs. Instead of pitching around Altuve, he attacked him, and the assertiveness ended any thoughts of Houston mounting a comeback effort.

via brooksbaseball.net

Bauer started Altuve off with a 91 mile per hour cutter to the lower outside corner, a difficult spot for the hitter to square up especially given that he might have been thinking Bauer was going to give him a free pass. The next pitch was a 96.5 mile per hour four-seamer erroneously called a ball, granting Altuve a short reprieve, but completely changing his eye level.

The only chance Altuve would have in the at bat came on the third pitch. Another 96 mile per hour four-seam fastball, but this one was put chest high and over the middle of the plate. Almost as if Bauer was daring the umpire to not call THAT one a strike. Altuve swung through it.

Giving a dealing Bauer a 1-2 count when his whole arsenal of pitches is working is just unfair. Altuve might as well of walked back to the dugout to avoid embarrassment. Instead, he stood in there and thought he had the fourth pitch all lined up to put the Astros on the board. Too bad the pitch was a wicked, 82 mile per hour curve in the dirt.

https://vine.co/v/i2AH625eDIg

Fist pumps for everyone.

1. October to February is a signficant portion of the year after all. Eric Binder, Cleveland Indians assistant director of player development, said, “[DST] genuinely care about the guys in their programs and truly want them to succeed at whatever they’re training for.” [↩]
2. He has been known to stick around and help out seven year olds through high schoolers if they desire his feedback. [↩]