Trevor Bauer, currently on administrative leave from the Los Angeles Dodgers as he faces investigations he sexually assaulted a woman earlier this year, faced a previous order of protection filed by an Ohio woman in 2020, according to a published report.
In a series of events that partially mirror the order of protection filed against Bauer in Pasadena earlier this year, the Washington Post reported that a woman alleged Bauer choked her without her consent and injured her while they had sex in 2017, and proceeded to send her threatening messages via text and social media. The protective order obtained by the Post has remained sealed, while a police report detailing a 2017 incident in which the woman showed police injuries to her eyes has been expunged.
Bauer, then 26, was pitching for Cleveland in August 2017 when police were summoned to his apartment, according to the expunged police report obtained by the Post. The report says said Bauer complained the woman tried to physically harm him, while the woman showed officers pictures of injuries she said were sustained during a previous encounter with Bauer, including damage to her eyes as a result of him choking her.
The woman was arrested for underage drinking, according to the police report. The Post also obtained photos of bruises the woman said she sustained when he struck her without her consent during a 2018 encounter.
Cleveland traded Bauer to Cincinnati in July 2019, and he won the NL Cy Young Award during the shortened 2020 season
The woman filed the protective order in June 2020, which according to the Post came after Bauer sent her threatening messages, including one stating, “I don’t feel like spending time in jail for killing someone. And that’s what would happen if I saw you again.”
Bauer and his attorneys have denied the allegations, Bauer tweeting a statement that said the woman was creating a “false narrative” and that she continued to contact him in subsequent years after the encounter in question. A statement from Bauer’s attorneys, Jon Fetterolf and Rachel Luba, says the woman raised the specter of a protective order “as a means to threaten and extort money from Mr. Bauer, demanding $3.4 million for her to ‘remain silent.’”
However, emails obtained by the Post indicate it was one of Bauer’s attorneys who first raised the specter of a monetary settlement.
Major League Baseball is investigating the Ohio woman's allegations against Bauer, according to a person with direct knowledge of the investigation. The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
The Post reported that in July, an MLB investigator sought police records related to the 2017 incident.
MLB placed Bauer on administrative leave on July 2, and it has been mutually extended by the league and the union on multiple occasions as a judge in Los Angeles awaits to determine whether to grant an order of protection to a San Diego woman who claimed Bauer punched and injured her without her consent.
The hearing on the order has been delayed multiple times as attorneys for Bauer and the woman receive new evidence. It is expected to move forward over multiple days next week.
Kendra Barkoff, spokesperson for the Ohio woman, released a statement to USA TODAY Sports attributed to one of the woman's attorneys, Joseph Darwal, indicating the woman was not intending to come forward before the Post obtained police and court documents.
"My client had no interest in coming forward about her experience as she feared the possible consequences of doing so, as seen in what is occurring in California," Darwal said in the statement. "However, once the Post reached out for comment regarding documents they received from third parties, she was left with no other choice but to come forward and confirm the documents they received."
Bauer is in the first year of a three-year, $102 million contract he signed with the Dodgers last winter. While he has been paid during his administrative leave, he faces a potentially lengthy unpaid suspension from MLB under its domestic violence policy. Any discipline by the league against Bauer will not occur until its investigation is complete.
MLB and the union's joint domestic violence policy states that players may be disciplined in the absence of criminal charges filed.
“The MLB should be applauded for their handling of this investigation," said Darwal in a statement. "Although they could not have known of our client’s story prior to the tragic events in California, their approach is both thorough and respectful. Our client is currently assisting the MLB in this investigation; however, as the process is ongoing I cannot comment further at this time.”
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