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Dodgers: Trevor Bauer Slams Ken Rosenthal Article About Doctored Baseballs

Trevor Bauer has been absolutely dominant in his first three starts of his Dodgers career. He was lights out once again on Tuesday night, as he shut down the Rockies through 7 innings of work. Unfortunately, his early-season success has been put under a microscope thanks to a recent report from The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal about the use of foreign substances.

For those unaware of the original article, Rosenthal claims that the MLB collected multiple balls thrown by Bauer in his start against the Athletics on April 7th that were suspected of having foreign substances on them. After Tuesday night’s game, Bauer was asked about the report and if he had heard from Major League baseball about the baseballs that were taken from his previous outing. And as you would probably expect, Trevor wasn’t having any of it.



No, cause they’re gossip bloggers writing stuff and having no clue about the actual rule or actually knowing the rule, but intentionally writing something without going and investigating. I don’t know. I don’t know what the hell that report was about.

Related: Is MLB Singling Out Trevor Bauer’s ‘Suspicious Baseballs’?

The article was especially damning because it mentioned Bauer by name when this ball collection process is happening in every game around the league. To clarify even further, Bauer gave reporters a summary of the rule being enforced.

Basically, so I can explain to everyone what the actual rule is, MLB is just collecting baseballs to do a study. They’re not doing anything with them, no one’s under investigation. These gossip bloggers are just out here writing stuff to try to throw water on my name or whatever. Just personal vendettas, I guess.

Ken Rosenthal, on the other hand, has defended his article quite vigorously. On this past Sunday’s episode of The Athletic Baseball Show podcast, he dove into why he wrote it and why he believes it was the right take on the matter. The entire dialogue is quite lengthy, but this quote from Ken, in particular, stands out.

So why report on Bauer, and Bauer alone, when all pitchers are subject to increased examination this season and balls are being taken from every pitcher in every game? The answer’s pretty simple: I had information from multiple sources on Bauer. Information that distinguished him from other pitchers. The sources told me that the scrutiny of Bauer arose from balls that were brought to the umpire’s attention.

Essentially, Rosenthal’s defense is that he had first-hand information on Bauer, so he ran with that. It could have been any other pitcher in baseball, but because his sources led him to the Dodgers’ new ace, he is the poster boy of MLB’s new experiment.

Final Thoughts

Was Trevor Bauer using foreign substances to get a better grip on the ball? Perhaps. But is he under any actual investigation when so many other pitchers around the game are likely doing the exact same thing? That part remains a mystery. According to Bauer himself, the answer is no. But if you listen to Ken Rosenthal, the extent of what Major League Baseball can do is still up in the air. One thing is certain: Trevor Bauer did not find the story credible whatsoever.

“I’m all for a clickbait headline, like, I get the benefit of that stuff,” Trevor said. “But when you’re going to sit there and write an article and not even go and understand the rule or intentionally ignore the fact that you know the rule just so you can intentionally pile on someone, that’s such a joke of an article. From someone who calls himself a journalist, it’s just a joke.”

Are you not entertained?

Trevor Bauer Postgame Full

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Daniel Palma

Daniel is an avid sports fan who loves his hometown teams. If he's not watching baseball, you can find him playing or coaching. No matter what, he'll always root for the Boys in Blue!

5 Comments

  1. Right now if I had to choose the truth of something coming out of Bauer’s mouth or Rosenthal’s, I’m going with Rosenthal. You remember who broke the Astros cheating scandal?

  2. I don’t really care about this “grip enhancement” stuff. Pitchers have been using rosin bags forever. But I do think Bauer pitches better when he’s testy/edgy. He almost threw a no hitter yesterday. So let the arguments continue.

  3. Rose that should look at the tape Fiers no-hitter with Oakland. Someone did an investigative video and showed close ups, etc. I’d say about every single pitch was doctored. Go clean your own house.

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