Jake Bauers

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Jakob Christopher Bauers

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Biographical Information[edit]

First baseman Jake Bauers was picked by the San Diego Padres in the 7th round of the 2013 amateur draft. He hit .282/.341/.374 in 47 games with the AZL Padres that season, then, in 2014, moved up to the Fort Wayne TinCaps of the Midwest League, where his batting line was .296/.376/.414 in 112 games. He hit 18 doubles and 8 homers and drove in 64 runs, very good numbers for an 18-year-old playing full season ball in a circuit whose players were, on average, 3 1/2 years older than him. On December 17, 2014, he was one of five players sent by the Padres to the Tampa Bay Rays in a blockbuster trade that brought catcher Ryan Hanigan and outfielder Wil Myers, along with two prospects, to San Diego.

The Rays called Jake up on June 7, 2018, designating Brad Miller for assignment to clear a roster spot. He made his debut that day, starting at first base and going 0 for 4 in a 5-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners. He hit his first homer on June 11th off Sam Gaviglio of the Toronto Blue Jays, putting the Rays ahead to stay in an 8-4 win. On June 24th, he led off the bottom of the 12th against Chasen Shreve of the New York Yankees with a walk-off homer, the second long ball of his career, for a 7-6 Rays win that completed a three-game sweep. He hit .201 with 11 homers and 48 RBI in 96 games, but did draw 54 walks. On December 13th, he was traded again, this time to the Cleveland Indians, for infielder Yandy Diaz and prospect Cole Sulser.

On June 14, 2019, he was hitting just .209 entering play when he hit for the cycle for the first time of his career. Two of the hits came in the 4th, when the Indians scored 8 runs against the Detroit Tigers on their way to a 13-4 win. He completed the feat by homering in the 8th. It was the second cycle in the major leagues in two days, as Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels had done it a day earlier. The season was a struggle; Jake was returned to Triple A on August 1st and finished with a .226/.312/.371 big league slash line, 12 homers and 43 RBI. He then was out of the major leagues entirely in 2020, and because the minor leagues were shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic, did not play anywhere that year.

He made his return to the big leagues with the Indians at the start of the 2021 season, but hit just .190 in 43 games with an OPS+ of 55. On June 10th, he was traded to the Seattle Mariners in return for a player to be named (Damon Casetta-Stubbs). He played a further 72 games with Seattle, improving slightly, to .220 with an OPS+ of 63, but this was still clearly below the production expected of a 1B/DH in the majors. In 115 games between the two teams, his line was .209 with 4 homers and 19 RBIs. He became a free agent after the season and signed with the Cincinnati Reds but spent all of 2022 in the minors, first with the Louisville Bats, for which he hit .135 in 29 games, and later with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders after being purchased by the New York Yankees on June 3rd. He did a bit better in his 32 games there, batting .226 with 5 homers and 16 RBIs, but he was still far from his former numbers.

He started the 2023 season back with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and got off to a good start, batting .304 with 9 homers and 20 RBIs in his first 21 games. On April 29th, he was called up to the Yankees with the offense in a rut and their best hitter, Aaron Judge, temporarily unavailable because of a hip injury. He started in left field against the Texas Rangers that day, but did not even make it to the end of the 1st inning as injured his right knee crashing into the outfield fence while catching a line drive off the bat of Adolis Garcia. He had to be removed from the game and replaced by Aaron Hicks even before taking his first at-bat of the game.

Further Reading[edit]

  • Associated Press: "Bauers crashes into wall, hurt in 1st inning of Yanks debut", Yahoo! News, April 29, 2023. [1]

Related Sites[edit]

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