Deep Thoughts: Bauer’s Pursuit of Perfection

Shakespeare once said, "But no perfection is so absolute, that some impurity doth not pollute."

Enter stage right, one Trevor Bauer. Bauer is a tinkerer always looking to improve. You have to admire someone so obsessed with their craft that the process is never over in the pursuit of perfection. After a successful run you'd expect a repeat performance, that he had found the winning formula; not so. After putting up stellar numbers in 2018 to swoon the hardest of souls, Bauer followed that performance with a painful journey of frustration in 2019 that crescendoed with the famous launching of the game ball over the outfield wall at Kauffman Stadium. Soon after Cleveland traded him to Cincinnati where he continued to labor through the remainder of the season. Now in 2020, he's tinkered again, and chasing the white whale once more.

Because if how knowledgeable he is about pitching and the desire to improve, he's struggled to find consistency across his career, filled with many ups and downs. He has a career ERA of 3.67 but only registering a season under 4 once, that being his dominant 2018. There are times he looks completely unhittable and others like during last year he'd get hit really had and was unable to command the zone well. So, what's working for him this year you say; let's dive in.