Trevor Bauer took his never-ending trolling of the Houston Astros to another level Saturday.
For his outing against the Chicago White Sox, the Cincinnati Reds right-hander jogged to the mound sporting cleats with an obvious reference to Houston’s sign-stealing scheme.
The reference, of course, is to the most talked about aspect of Houston’s scheme — the banging of a dugout trash can intended to send signals to the batter.
If that wasn’t obvious enough, the phrases “Dark Arts” and “Codebreaker” are written across the back in reference to code words used by Houston.
Major League Baseball launched an investigation into the Astros scheme after former pitcher Mike Fiers blew the whistle. The Astros were hit with a $5 million fine, lost their top two picks in the next two drafts and saw general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch hit with one-year suspensions. Both were fired the day the punishment was announced.
Even before then, Bauer had been involved in a social media-driven feud with Astros third baseman Alex Bregman. Since the scandal broke, Bauer has been among Houston’s most outspoken critics. That included a spring training media session where he labeled the Astros “cheaters” and “hypocrites.”
Now, nearly 10 months removed from the initial report, Bauer still isn’t ready to let it go. Since he won’t get to face the Astros during the regular season, apparently he felt Saturday’s nationally televised game against the White Sox was the best time to bust out his custom cleats.
They certainly had people talking.
I bet Rob Manfred is freaking out with Fox giving so much attention to Trevor Bauer
— Jason Brown (@brown_jason) September 20, 2020
And there’s no doubt Bauer loves the attention.
Speaking of, Bauer’s pitching this season has certainly grabbed our attention. He entered Saturday’s start with a 1.71 ERA. With one week remaining in the regular season, he might be the leading contender to win the National League Cy Young award.
Trevor Bauer breaks out the trash can cleats to troll the Houston Astros while facing the Chicago White Sox. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)
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