Actress Pamela Anderson was the star attraction Wednesday on a typical sun-splashed, lazy California spring afternoon at pristine Eddy D. Field Stadium on the hillside campus of Pepperdine University, which overlooks the glimmering blue of the Pacific Ocean—in easy view over the left-field fence.
No matter how you slice it, it was quite the setting for my first opportunity to take in a college baseball game at Pepperdine. The Waves were playing UCLA in a somewhat meaningless mid-week contest before less than 500 fans, only there was a sense of urgency on the part of the Bruins as they continue to dig themselves out from the hole brought on by a 10-game losing streak at the start of the 2009 season. They responded with a clean, convincing 8-2 win.
While Anderson, who lives in the area, has two sons that play baseball, is a semi-regular at Pepperdine baseball games and also assists the program with numerous fund-raising activities, popped in twice, alone, for about an inning each time, and was otherwise inconspicuous (yeah, right!) with her seat location in the first row behind the Pepperdine dugout in the far right-hand corner of the bleachers—and yet made a point of going down to the Pepperdine dugout to say good-bye when she left for a second and final time—all eyes were soon trained to the field, to the sparkling pitching performance being put on by UCLA freshman righthander Trevor Bauer.
The 6-foot, 170-pound Bauer worked the first eight innings of the game, and with the exception of a couple of solo homers he surrendered, was otherwise dazzling. He walked one, struck out eight and scattered six hits.
The impressive outing was a sense of redemption for Bauer, who came on in relief in a 4-4 game against Pepperdine a couple of weeks earlier at UCLA, and gave up a demoralizing game-winning homer to Colin Rooney in the ninth inning of a 5-4 loss—loss No. 7 in UCLA’s streak of 10. That setback dropped Bauer’s record on the season to 0-3.
Rooney took Bauer deep again on Wednesday (which drew the applause of Anderson), but this time it was an inconsequential sixth-inning blast. Bauer had pretty much stymied the Waves to that point, and only got stronger from that point on as he retired the remaining eight hitters he faced in order, with ease. His fastball peaked at 92 mph in the first inning and was still a steady 90-91 in the eighth, when he threw the last of his 105 pitches. He mixed in a steady diet of breaking balls and changeups.
If it took Bauer a few games to get his feet firmly entrenched at the college level, it is understandable as he enrolled at UCLA only in January—just days before his 18th birthday. He was supposed to be a senior at Newhall’s William S. Hart High this spring, but decided to graduate in December and forego his final season in high school (and an opportunity to be drafted in June) after taking extra credits at night at a nearby junior college. A 12-0, 0.79 record with 15 walks and 106 strikeouts in 71 innings as a junior at Hart High was evidence that he had little left to prove by staying in high school for another season.
Bauer is just the latest baseball prospect of note to bypass the draft out of high school and enroll in college a year ahead of his normal high-school class, and he joins the likes of Tennessee shortstop Tony Delmonico (who later transferred to Florida State when his father, Rod, was fired as the Tennessee coach), Southern California catcher/righthander Robert Stock and North Carolina infielder Levi Michael.
UCLA coach John Savage expressed no hesitation in agreeing that Bauer made the right career move, especially after his dominating performance Wednesday—the most impressive to date in his young college career.
“He’s a special kid,” Savage said. “He’s so advanced for his age and experience that you don’t find players like him coming along very often who can deal with everything like he has. He’s got composure, the capability to pitch his way out of problems with ease, the ability to throw four pitches for strikes, the ability gets both lefthanded and righthanded hitters out equally well. He’s got it all.”
Bauer’s win Wednesday improved his record on the season to 2-3, and lowered his ERA to 2.38. In 34 innings, he has allowed 27 hits and 11 walks, while striking out 33. But it was just his second start in 11 appearances as Savage used him in relief initially to begin his career, and Bauer actually has two saves to his credit.
“It’s pretty clear, after today, that he’s a starter,” Savage said. “He prepares himself like a starter, and pitches like a starter. He has a high degree of pitchability; that’s his best attribute. The one thing with him is he likes to throw so much—he’ll even go down to the bullpen between innings—that you have to be careful not to overextend him.”
Based on his performance Wednesday, will Bauer soon force his way into UCLA’s weekend rotation against Pacific-10 Conference competition? Savage was non-commital, but did say, “That’s a tough call. We’ll have to see after this weekend.”
While the slightly-built Bauer lacks a physical presence and his stuff is not overpowering, Savage has no hesitation in saying he expects Bauer to be a first-rounder in the 2011 draft—just like another UCLA freshman arm of some note, righthander Gerrit Cole, an unsigned first-round pick of the New York Yankees a year ago who stepped in from the get-go to become the Bruins No. 1 starter this season.
Cole’s stuff, which includes a fastball up to 99 mph, is much more readily apparent than Bauer’s, but Bauer may already be a more complete package, especially when intangibles and the more subtle aspects of pitching are factored into the mix. It’s not like Bauer can’t throw hard, either, as his fastball was clocked as high as 93 mph last weekend against USC as the Bruins won two of three games from the Trojans.
Bauer, himself, is well aware that his size and stuff may yet be obstacles that he’ll have to overcome in the eyes of scouts going forward, and it’s no coincidence that his quick, yet herky-jerky delivery looks like and has even been patterned after National League Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum—the poster child for smallish righthanders. Bauer’s delivery isn’t overly smooth or conventional, like Lincecum’s, but it is designed to create deception, to gain every advantage possible to give hitters a little different look.
“Lincecum’s his guy,” Savage said. “Trevor watches tons of video on him. He knows his stride lane and his separation perfectly. He duplicates his delivery in every way possible.”
So on a day that started with a Pamela Anderson-sighting (a fellow British Columbia native, I might add) and a chance to watch a well-played college game in one of best ball-park settings in the country, my day only became more complete with the unexpected opportunity to watch possibly the next coming of Tim Lincecum unfold before my very eyes.