Ex-Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer tries to restore reputation, career

Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer said in a television interview on Fox News Thursday that he “made mistakes” and was “reckless” in his personal life but has made changes to address that as he seeks to resurrect his American baseball career, including “not having casual sexual relationships anymore.”

Bauer, 32, also noted he was bullied as a kid and as a result sometimes would respond in an “immature” way to stand up for himself on social media.

Bauer discussed this in his first television interview since his Major League Baseball career came to a halt in 2021, when he was accused of sexual assault by a woman in San Diego. He denied he sexually assaulted her and others who made similar accusations, saying they were consensual encounters.

“I agreed to do things I shouldn’t have done,” Bauer told Bill Hemmer of Fox News Channel’s ‘America’s Newsroom.’ “It was reckless. It hurt a lot of people along the way. It made things very difficult for Major League Baseball, for the Dodgers, my teammates, friends, family, people close to me. So, I’ve done a lot of reflecting on that and made a lot of changes in my life to address that.

 “Not having casual sexual relationships anymore, for example. I also − you know, I made a lot of people in the media mad. I was very immature with how I handled things when people would write things about me that I didn’t agree with. I should have just had a private adult conversation with someone.”

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Why Trevor Bauer is giving interviews now

Bauer generally hasn’t given interviews since the allegations as he defended himself in court and filed defamation lawsuits against news media outlets for how they reported on the allegations. Now the former Cy Young Award winner is opening up more with interviews that appear to show a nicer side of himself as he tries to restore his reputation and get an MLB team to sign him.

“I look back on those comments with a lot of embarrassment and regret and that certainly made the situation a lot harder on me then than it needed to be,” Bauer told OutKick’s Charly Arnolt. “I’m trying to repair all those relationships, trying to have those conversations with people. I’ve met those adjustments in my personal life. I’m just trying to do the second half of my career better than I did the first half.”

Last year, Bauer reached a settlement to end litigation against the San Diego woman but still has an active civil case against a woman in Arizona who made similar allegations against him, which he denied.

He told Fox News he’s “grown up a lot, for sure’ but wasn’t a victim.

“My viewpoints now are drastically different than they were five years ago, 10 years ago,” Bauer said in the Fox News interview. “Yes. Things are − different things are important to me.”

Asked if he’s apologizing for anything, Bauer responded, “I’m certainly taking accountability for my role in this. I’ve put myself in a lot of positions that have made things very hard for people, and I’m trying to be better.”

“You made it hard for yourself,” Hemmer of Fox News said.

“Myself, but − yes, myself, but a lot of the people around me, I think, are more important than the − you know, what − how hard it’s been on me personally,” Bauer said.

Will an MLB team sign Trevor Bauer?

Last year, he played baseball in Japan after the Dodgers released him. Bauer was never arrested or charged in relation to these allegations but was suspended by MLB for 324 games, which later was reduced 194 games after a hearing before a private arbitrator.

Bauer has portrayed the San Diego woman’s allegations as a money grab and used his litigation against her to gain access to evidence he says supports that notion, including a video that the woman took of herself shortly after a May 2021 encounter with him at his home in Pasadena. In that video, she appears to be “willingly in bed with a sleeping Mr. Bauer, and is smirking and uninjured,” as his representatives described it.

The woman met Bauer on Instagram and had two encounters at his home that started consensually but went too far, she said. She was diagnosed at a hospital after the second one with an acute head injury and assault by strangulation.

“That’s my goal, is to play baseball here in the United States,” Bauer said. “I’m still one of the best pitchers in the world. I’d like to compete at the highest level. I’m also really passionate about helping people, being good for the game. I think I’ve done a lot of damage, unfortunately, in the first half of my career, and I’d love a second opportunity to do things better.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com