The Mariners announced Wednesday that first baseman/outfielder Jake Bauers has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Tacoma. He’ll be able to become a minor league free agent following the completion of the postseason, though Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports that the Mariners hope to re-sign him to a minor league contract (Twitter link).
Bauers, 26, is a former seventh-round pick of the Padres who eventually hit his way into top-100 prospect territory in 2017-18. San Diego flipped him to the Rays as one of several players in the three-team Trea Turner blockbuster that sent Turner to D.C. back in 2014.’
After a half season of games in Tampa Bay, Bauers went to Cleveland in another three-team deal — this time the one that sent Yandy Diaz to Tampa Bay, Carlos Santana to Cleveland and Edwin Encarnacion to Seattle. Bauers appeared in parts of two seasons with Cleveland across three calendar years before being traded to the Mariners exchange for a player to be named later (righty Damon Casetta-Stubbs) earlier this season.
The Mariners were the fourth organization of Bauers’ career and the third for which he’s played at the MLB level. He posted just a .220/.297/.275 slash with Seattle, however, continuing the struggles he’s displayed throughout his big league tenure. Through 1126 plate appearances spread across three Major League seasons, Bauers is a .213/.307/.348 hitter with 27 home runs and an impressive 11.5 percent walk rate — but also a sub-part 26.4 percent strikeout rate. He’s posted better numbers in the minors, with similar slash lines at virtually every stop and a career .275/.361/.414 output in parts of seven seasons.
Makes sense to me.
Guys like Bauers are easy enough to find. Hard to finally justify keeping in the show
Another former top prospect who seems to struggle..
Right, bravesfan. Top prospects sometimes work out, sometimes don’t.
Like everything else in baseball: some do, some don’t.
Maybe it depends on who wants it more and is willing to work harder than everyone else. Can’t all be a Griffey, Jr,or Henry Aaron, who didn’t even have to work at it.
The rest of us are mere mortals.
The majority top 100 prospects either don’t make it or end up non regulars. Even in the top 10 ranked prospects there’s plenty of busts. And that’s not even talking about pitchers.
I think you’re underestimating the work required, even for Aaron anf Junior.
Yeah, I know, pt57. I did that for effect.
They did make it all seem so effortless.
We have to admit that they really stood out.
Awful ball player
No he isn’t. He actually played good defense at both 1B and corner OF. He doesn’t look overmatched at the plate, he just hasn’t been able to turn the corner at the highest level.
Yeah, when looking at his advanced batting metrics the only thing that stood out was his UTI (u-turn index).
I didn’t expect to see a comment about Bauers’s UTI on MLBTR.
Nasty
Wishing him the best
Hard to see the attraction after 1100+ PA’s. Not playing a skill fielding position, not special with the glove in his own, and doesn’t run particularly well. Someone will give him a chance, but three organizations into his career, he looks like the type of player that a 55 win per year team might take just to wish on.
He basically rode a little over half a year of not being terrible with Tampa Bay into a couple years of semi regular playing time. That and the projections from prospect hounds and scouts that he’d have an above average hit tool, add a few dingers and play enough defense to be a regular when he got into his prime. That hasn’t happened. You can see glimpses of that potential once in a while. I wouldn’t he shocked if he ended up being decent for someone but it’s not likely at this point. He’s more likely to be a regular DFA candidate for whichever team gives him a few PA once a 40 man crunch happens.
So Mike156 you are saying the Angels will be offering the guy a contract? Just have to beat Seattle’s vet min deal.
CLE gave him every opportunity to succeed because they really felt they struck gold when they landed him. His time with the Tribe was truly an epic fail no matter how you spin it. The fact that he made the Opening Day lineup was a shocker for me. Bauers is just another example of buyer beware for ANY player TB is willing to surrender. They knew he was a dud. 3 years later CLE and SEA have figured it out.
shame they didnt give Witte a little look this year.
For a second I read White and wondered why you wrote that, then realized you wrote Witte who I didn’t even realize was a Mariner. There’s a reasonable chance he’d out play both White and Bauers if they all were given enough playing time.
He must be spending too much time making State Farm commercials.
The Yankees should give him a minor league deal. He can’t do worse than Mike Ford
Like quite a few other hitters, he’s a victim of the shift. Living in Seattle, I got to see him play quite a few times and he started going the other way with the ball towards the end of the year. He’ll catch on somewhere.
Welcome to Pittsburgh, Jake. Seems like a perfect final destination.
TB scored Diaz and Sulser who they ended up waiving for Bauers. Nice
Lol but I guess I missed they gave up Castillo and Meyers for him. Fail.
Sulser was a nice pickup for the Orioles.
Teams clamoring for a first baseman who can’t hit are circling.
Clears out another spot on the 40-man roster, yes?
He has skills. There’s just nothing extra ordinary about him. He could definitely be a late bloomer. He had great at bats all year but ALWAYS misses the big pitch to hit. Always. He’s a solid athlete and everybody on the team seems to love the guy
AJ, that is exactly how I saw Jake Bauers.
So what he may yet become still remains to be seen.
That’s baseball. Ya gotta love it!