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The shortened 2020 season makes it difficult to assess player performance, but Trevor Bauer might have helped himself more than any other player. Think about Bauer’s position after the 2019 season. As of 2014, he was 68-56 years old with a 3.99 ERA, had proven durable with no arm injuries in his career (although he had only passed the 200 innings only once) and was known as the leading student and practitioner of pitch analysis. With Cleveland in 2018, he posted a 2.21 ERA and whipped up 221 batters in 175 innings and perhaps would have won the Cy Young award if it weren’t for a broken leg suffered from line training. In 2019, however, he had a 4.48 ERA with Cleveland and Cincinnati, suffering from an increase in his walk and home run rates. So, at a minimum, he was a solid workaholic, but with the one season teasing a level higher.
He made just 11 starts with the Reds in 2020, but finished with a 1.73 ERA, the best career walk and strikeout rates, kept batters at an average of .159 and is the favorite. to win the Cy Young Award, which will be announced Wednesday night. The narrative now is more along the lines of, “Hey, he’s been awesome in two of the last three seasons.” That puts him in the discussion as one of the top starters in the majors … and he’s a free agent.
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