Trevor Bauer won’t be eligible for playoffs if Diamondbacks make it
When the Arizona Diamondbacks selected Trevor Bauer there was a thought that the UCLA star could pitch for the big league club this season.
That may still be the case, but you won’t see the right-hander in a D-backs uniform should the team reach the postseason.
The Arizona Diamondbacks will NOT call up 3rd overall pick pitcher Trevor Bauer before Sept 1st to make him eligible for the playoffs.
Bauer would have needed to be called up to the Majors before September 1st in order to be eligible for the playoffs, and Gambadoro reports the team decided against it.
It’s probably the right decision for Arizona, even if the guy is dominating the minor leagues to the tune of a 2.62 ERA with 40 strikeouts in 24 innings of work.
Given the number of innings he’s already thrown this season, there’s a decent chance the organization would prefer to play it safe and not overdue it for the No. 3 pick in the 2011 amateur draft.
Besides, while Bauer could help out of the bullpen, his role now and in the future will be as a starting pitcher. There is no telling if he’d be able to pitch well on consecutive days or, possibly, with one day of rest, and that has nothing to do with the fact that he’d be thrown into the fire of playoff baseball just a few months removed from college.
No, the best move for the D-backs is to probably wait and, if they want to give the kid a taste of the Majors do so over the season’s final couple of weeks. There would be little pressure on him to perform and he could help the team rest a starter who they hope to have ready for an extended playoff run.