There's no questioning Trevor Bauer's talent. It's only a matter of time before the Arizona Diamondbacks hot prospect is in Sedona Red throwing his reverse slider, two different change-ups, and all his other many pitches from his super-deep arsenal.
Some even think Bauer should be with the big league team now, but clearly the D-backs disagree.
They not only sent him down to Double-A Mobile but they cut him from the big league spring training roster ahead of Tyler Skaggs and Patrick Corbin who both had seniority on Bauer within the organization.
My sense of Bauer through spring was of a highly confident kid who might be just a little bit too locked into himself and his own performance.
He's already a great pitcher, but on this Diamondbacks team that's not enough. On the D-backs, pitchers are expected to contribute at the plate and be dedicated to fielding their position. This team's culture demands everyone put the team first and that includes star prospects.
Now maybe Bauer gets that and it just didn't come across in our few encounters. But this video he posted on his own YouTube channel certainly doesn't send the right message.
Here's the description Bauer gave to the highlight reel of his recent strikeouts:
Highlights of my start against the Mississippi Braves on April 5, 2012
These clips made possible by my right hand man, Ed Easley, behind the plate.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with fans or even agents and marketing people making promotional clips like this (and man, that's some nasty stuff), but for Bauer to post it and boost about his strikeouts is not the kind of baseball the Arizona Diamondbacks promote.
This is a kid who works hard to maximize his talent. He's going to be great but he's not there yet. As the man recently said, potential just means that you've not done anything yet.
Trevor needs to stay humble, a defining trait of Gibby Ball, and let the results speak for themselves. Leave the gloating to folks like us. Self promotion like this won't fly in a Kirk Gibson club house and doesn't do young Trevor any favors.
And by the way, Bauer is 2-0 with an ERA of 0.00 in 10.2 innings with 18 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.03. Wow. I can't wait for him to get his shot, but it's not going to come until he starts demonstrating the "Diamondbacks Way".
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