Dodgers: Trevor Bauer’s spring training debut was as electrifying as you’d expect

It’s a new-ish era of Los Angeles Dodgers baseball. They’re the reigning champs for the first time in 32 years and brought in even more reinforcements to defend their title.

One of them is Trevor Bauer, who signed a record-setting three-year, $102 million contract a few weeks ago and is expected to make this rotation the undisputed best in baseball. Many had questions about his ability to sustain his 2020 success since it occurred in a shortened season, but the right-hander picked up right where he left off on Monday.

Bauer was absolutely filthy on the mound in his Dodgers spring training debut. Though it came against a battered Colorado Rockies squad, his stuff was in midseason form.

Have a look for yourself if you missed it.

That was two clean frames with one hit allowed. He struck out two in the 10-0 victory. This was exactly what Dodgers fans were expecting when Bauer came back home to LA.

Why? Because the critics would have been out in full force if he flopped in his first spring outing. Though Bauer is the reigning NL Cy Young winner, he’s had just two seasons (a total of 39 starts) since debuting in a full-time role in 2014 with an ERA under 4.18. He’s got a 3.90 mark for his career. On the surface, you’d say, “that’s not worth a record-setting $40 million per year.”

But the Dodgers, once again, were smart about this. They’re paying Bauer a premium when they believe he’s going to maximize his potential, which would coincide with LA having one of the best rotations the game has ever seen with Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw and David Price likely pitching through 2022.

And there ya have it! The man himself vlogging during his postgame interview to give the fans what they want. Love him or hate him, Bauer and that knee-buckling curveball are here to stay.

His start to his Dodgers career couldn’t have looked better and fans should be thrilled to see more of this as we gear up for Opening Day in a month.

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