Trevor Bauer takes aim at MLB return, saying teams are INTERESTED

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Trevor Bauer hopes to return to the majors this season after being suspended and exiled to Japan over allegations of sexual misconduct – and his agent has already been in contact with several teams.

‘Well, my agents are having those conversations,’ the 32-year-old told Fox News on Thursday. ‘We’ve spoken with a lot of different teams. Free agency is a weird process. It plays out differently every single year. Timing is different every year. So we’ll see.’

The former Cy Young-winning pitcher is coming off a season in Japan, where he signed after being released by the Los Angeles Dodgers one year ago following his MLB suspension over those sexual misconduct claims.

While Bauer and accuser Lindsey Hill admitted to having consensual sex in 2021, Hill claims that the pitcher went overboard by punching her, choking her unconscious, and sodomizing her without her consent. Bauer was never charged in the case, and in October, the pair settled their respective defamation counter lawsuits against each other. Since then, Bauer released a video detailing his version of events on X, showing a text sent from Hill to a friend calling the pitcher her ‘next victim.’

But while Bauer maintains his innocence, he is admitting to ‘mistakes’ in his personal life, and insists he’s no longer having ‘casual sexual relationships anymore.’

Trevor Bauer (seen with the Yokohama BayStars) has faced other sexual misconduct claims too

(Right) Trevor Bauer steps out of the courthouse after the last day of the hearings on August 19, 2021. (Left) Bauer’s accuser, Lindsey Hill, pictured in August of 2021 before a previous hearing

‘I’m really detail oriented when it comes to baseball and training, but I didn’t apply the same level of scrutiny to my personal life,’ Bauer said. ‘I made mistakes. I agreed to do things that I shouldn’t have done. It was reckless. It hurt a lot of people along the way.

‘It made things very difficult for Major League Baseball, for the Dodgers, my teammates, friends, family, people close to me. So I’ve done a lot of reflecting on that. Made a lot of changes in my life to address that – not having casual sexual relationships anymore, for example.’

Without citing specific examples, Bauer also expressed regret for his previous behavior.

“I made a lot of people in the media mad,’ he said. ‘I was immature when people wrote things about me I didn’t agree with… I should have just had a private, adult conversation with someone.’

Bauer also referenced past trauma, suggesting it may have impacted his behavior as an adult.

‘I was bullied a lot as a kid, and I don’t really want to get into that, but at the time I viewed my responses on social media as standing up for myself and having a voice,’ he continued.

‘I’ve grown up a lot for sure. My viewpoints now are drastically different than they were five years ago, 10 years ago. Different things are important to me.’

POLICE-RECORDED HILL-BAUER CALL FROM MAY 22, 2021

LINDSEY HILL: ‘I really do appreciate all your sweet messages and stuff and, like, they do make me better. … The thing for me is, like, it’s kind of like blurry for me, obviously, because I was like coming out of, like, in and out of consciousness. So I did ask you to hit me?’

TREVOR BAUER: ‘Yeah.’

HILL: ‘Oh yeah. OK.

‘I’m trying to wrap my head around it because obviously, like, I’m in a lot of pain, and I don’t remember, like, specifically asking you to, like, hit me. Like, did you mean to hit me that hard?’

BAUER: ‘No.’

‘And like, that’s why it’s confusing. I didn’t feel like I hit you that hard, you know? And certainly, like, I tried telling you multiple times, ”Do you want to stop? Are you OK?” And, like, you said to keep going. So I just was trying to follow your lead on it.’

While Bauer is a controversial figure among baseball fans, his ability on the mound is not in question.

After a brilliant collegiate career at UCLA, the California native had seven solid seasons with the Cleveland Indians before winning the National League Cy Young award in 2020 by posting a league-best 1.73 earned-run average.

The Dodgers then signed Bauer to a three-year, $102 million deal before the 2021 season, only to have him suspended amid the sexual assault allegations. In December of 2022, an arbitrator reduced Bauer’s ban to 194 games and he was reinstated before ultimately being released by the Dodgers.

He then signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of the Nippon Professional Baseball league.

In 19 appearances for the BayStars, Bauer had a 10-4 record with an impressive 2.76 ERA.

In the video, Bauer shows texts allegedly sent from Hill saying he’d be her ‘next victim’

Hill allegedly told a friend that she would be an ‘absolute w***e’ to take some of Bauer’s money

Former Dodgers teammate Mookie Betts has since pushed for Bauer’s return.

‘My experience with Bauer is not anything remotely close to what everyone else’s experience is,’ Betts told the LA Times. ‘I love him. I think he’s an awesome guy. The personal things? I have no control. I have no say. Obviously, nothing ever came from it.

‘He’s an awesome pitcher. He’s a great guy, somebody who wants to take the mound every fifth day. But, at the end of the day, I don’t make the decision. That’s a decision that’s not as simple as baseball.’

Bauer posted a screengrab of Betts’ remarks on X and wrote, ‘Well, well, well… the ‘anonymous sources’ are going to hate this…Appreciate you brother.

‘Enjoyed lining up next to you, @mookiebetts. I’m sorry we couldn’t finish what we started but whether it’s as a teammate or a rival, I hope to see you on the field again soon.’

Bauer admitted to hitting Hill in a 27-minute phone call that was recorded on May 22, 2021 as part of the Pasadena Police Department’s investigation into her sexual assault claims against the former Cy Young winner.

‘I’m in a lot of pain, and I don’t remember specifically asking you to hit me,’ Hill said to Bauer in the recorded phone call, which was released by Legal Affairs and Trials. ‘Did you mean to hit me that hard?’

‘No, and that’s why it’s confusing,’ Bauer is heard responding. ‘I didn’t feel like I hit you that hard, you know? And certainly… I tried telling you multiple times, ”Do you want to stop? Are you OK?” And you said to keep going. So I just was trying to follow your lead on it.’

TREVOR BAUER’S ATTORNEYS RESPOND TO RECORDED CALL

The following is a statement from Jon Fetterolf and Shawn Holley, Trevor Bauer’s Attorneys, provided to Mail Sport:

Trevor Bauer and Lindsey Hill had consensual rough sex and the pretext call confirms that his version of events — the truth — never wavered, despite her attempts to get him to admit what she told the police.

Throughout the call, Mr. Bauer politely disagreed with her assessment multiple times while still trying to be thoughtful and courteous to a person he believed was a friend, rather than a person trying to deliberately set him up by recording this call, unbeknownst to him, with the police. He continuously notes that they discussed her preferences and boundaries in advance; how she asked him to be physical; how he checked on her multiple times during intercourse to confirm she was enjoying herself and to ensure that she wanted to continue; that he was following her lead; that it was his understanding—based on what she had told him—that she was experienced with and enjoyed rough sex; and he expressed his confusion at her alleged injuries given what did and did not take place. While there was consensual slapping at her request, he never punched Ms. Hill.

If Mr. Bauer had committed the acts alleged and this call was the smoking gun Ms. Hill hoped it would be, the Pasadena Police Department — who coordinated the call — would have arrested him. They didn’t view this recorded call as probable cause for an arrest, or consider it to be evidence that Mr. Bauer admitted to what Ms. Hill accused him of. Rather, it was further evidence that Ms. Hill’s allegations were not credible.

Even at the DVRO hearing under oath, Lindsey Hill, when discussing the pretext call, testified that Mr. Bauer did not admit to doing the things she claimed. But since Ms. Hill has made the pretext call available to the public, we encourage you to listen. Because Mr. Bauer’s receipt of the pretext call was subject to a protective order, he could not make it or Ms. Hill’s recorded police interviews available. Nor could he discuss them. Notably, Ms. Hill appears not to have released her recorded police interviews, which further confirm Mr. Bauer’s story.

The pitcher, who maintains his innocence, was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers at the end of his ban and recently completed his first season pitching in Japan.

In response to the release of the phone call, Bauer’s attorneys Jon Fetterolf and Shawn Holley provided a statement to Mail Sport.

‘Trevor Bauer and Lindsey Hill had consensual rough sex and the pretext call confirms that his version of events — the truth — never wavered, despite her attempts to get him to admit what she told the police,’ the statement began.

‘Throughout the call, Mr. Bauer politely disagreed with her assessment multiple times while still trying to be thoughtful and courteous to a person he believed was a friend, rather than a person trying to deliberately set him up by recording this call, unbeknownst to him, with the police.’

Bauer posted a video on social media accusing Hill of concocting a scheme to extort money from him by falsely accusing him of sexual assault.

Money did not exchange hands in either lawsuit, but Hill’s attorney Bryan J. Freedman says his client received a $300,000 insurance settlement.

One alleged text sent from Hill to a friend, which Bauer revealed, reads: ‘Next victim. Star pitcher for the Dodgers.’

Bauer said that she made the statement about him being her ‘next victim’ in a text that was sent ‘before she ever even met me’ and that she was advised to ‘take his money’.

After finding out Bauer’s net worth ($51million at the time), Hill said she would try to get some of his money by ‘being an absolute w***e to try to get in on his 51million’ and that she would ‘need Daddy to choke me out’.

Bauer’s accuser, Lindsey Hill is pictured with bruises around her eyes in one legal filing

While Hill acknowledged that ‘victim’ was not the right word choice, she claimed she used it in a way in which she was joking, mainly due to her history of dating baseball players. (She has also been linked to San Diego Padres slugger Fernando Tatis Jr.)

‘This was exactly what Trevor wanted to do was random pick three or four texts and weave it into a narrative where I just look horrible,’ she said on ‘Prime Time with Alex Stein.’

‘I explained that in my deposition and random things. I like to joke, I’m very sarcastic, sometimes inappropriate. Anyone who knows me would know that.’

Three other women have accused Bauer of sexual assault.

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