Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer hasn’t started a game since June 28, as his professional and legal future hangs in uncertainty amid a highly publicized sexual assault scandal involving him and a woman.
Bauer is accused of choking and hitting a woman during sex without her consent, among other actions detailed in the accuser’s graphic testimony. These serious allegations featured in the civil case include “putting his finger down [her] throat in an aggressive manner … wrapping [her] hair around [her] neck” until she lost consciousness, as well as punching the woman in the face and vagina. The woman requested a restrainer order against Bauer, however, it was denied by a California judge, who stated, “the injuries as shown in the photographs [provided by the woman] are terrible” but that “she was not ambiguous about wanting rough sex in the parties’ first encounter and wanting rougher sex in the second encounter.”
The judge’s ruling doesn’t prevent prosecutors from pressing charges against Bauer. The Pasadena Police Department has concluded a 3 1/2-month investigation into the allegations and has sent their findings to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, which will determine the 30-year-old’s legal fate.
Whether or not Bauer is charged by the DA with a crime, it is very likely that he will face a suspension. Major League Baseball and the players’ union have a domestic violence policy that enables the commissioner to suspend players with pay, whether or not the investigation results in a conviction.
The policy states, “In certain cases, the Commissioner may decide that he is not in a position to impose discipline until the resolution of a criminal or legal proceeding, but allowing the Player to play during the pendency of the criminal or legal proceeding would result in substantial and irreparable harm to either the Club or Major League Baseball. In such exceptional cases, the Commissioner may suspend the Player with pay pending resolution of the criminal or legal proceeding (or until the Commissioner determines that he has just cause to impose an unpaid, disciplinary suspension.”
Since July 2, Bauer has been on administrative leave. It remains to be seen how harsh the ruling will be, and the length of Bauer’s suspension, as well as whether Bauer decides to appeal the league’s punishment. What is certain, however, is that Bauer’s reputation, which was one of an incendiary nature prior to the scandal, has taken an irreversible hit, as he’d be lucky if an organization lets him wear a uniform on the diamond again.
