Jake Bauers made the Cleveland Indians Opening Day roster seemingly by default.
He was out of minor league options and that meant he either had to make the squad or be let go.
The Indians opted to give the 25-year-old another shot and so far the results have not been great.
Bauers went hitless in four at-bats Thursday night against the New York Yankees.
That dropped his batting average to .129 on the young season.
The math there is a dismal four hits in 31 at-bats.
So how long can this experiment continue?
#Indians (1B) Jake Bauers over his last 42 games:
H) 14
AB) 102
R) 9
2B) 5
HR) 1
RBI) 7
SB) 1
BB) 18
SO) 38
BB%) 14.6%
SO%) 30.9%
AVG) .137
OBP) .270
SLG) .216
ISO) .078
OPS) .486
wRC+) 34
WAR) -0.7— Indians Prospective (@indiansPro) April 23, 2021
Fans Continue to Wait on Bauers
The first baseman joined the Indians for the 2019 season and fans were told he was an elite prospect.
While true, he has failed to live up to expectations.
Bauers was thrown into the fire in 2019.
He ended up slashing .226/.312/.371 with 115 strikeouts in 117 games.
The results were so underwhelming the team never called up Bauers to the main roster in 2020.
2021 offered him a new chance even with Bobby Bradley being right there as the supposed future at first base.
The difference was Bradley could be sent to the alternate site.
This allowed the Indians to maintain his extra year of service time while also seeing what they had in Bauers.
It may be time to call Bradley if Bauers continues to look like he does at the plate.
Jake Bauers has had some bad bat luck this season, but I'm not sure how much longer Cleveland can use that to excuse his place on the team
— Casey Drottar (@CDrottar19) April 23, 2021
Reviewing the Bauers Trade
The Indians had a busy offseason late in 2018.
Bauers was sent to Cleveland and Yandy Diaz headed to Tampa Bay.
That was part of a larger deal that also resulted in Carlos Santana returning home.
How do you feel about losing Diaz now?
Getting Santana back is what fans will remember most from that sequence of deals.
Losing Diaz was a bummer to some, but Terry Francona could just never seem to find a place for the slugger.
That may be on the manager more than the player.
But let’s circle back to Bauers.
The Indians front office usually gets the benefit of the doubt on most trades.
That is why the team can compete with such a low payroll.
However, it appears Bauers is a bust and it is time to cut him loose.
Could he turn things around in a new city?
Sure, that is always possible.
But he has failed to do anything in Cleveland and there is no reason why Bradley cannot get some real playing time at first.
Yu Chang could even continue to platoon at the position for now.
The team just can’t keep putting Bauers in the lineup based on his overall results in town since 2019.
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