Trevor Bauer is on the case.
The Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander is allowing home runs at a greater clip in 2021 and has not yet been able to determine the cause.
"It's just frustrating," Bauer said, according to Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times. "Forty percent of the hits I give up are homers. I haven't given up a run on a non-homer in over a month. Good pitches, bad pitches, it just seems my luck on homers is terrible right now."
Bauer has allowed 13 home runs in 76 1/3 innings across 12 starts this season. His 1.53 HR/9 would be the highest of his career over a full campaign. Bauer's best season at suppressing the long ball came in 2018 when he allowed just nine in 175 1/3 innings (0.46 HR/9).
Only Toronto Blue Jays left-hander Robbie Ray and Chicago Cubs righty Kyle Hendricks have allowed more homers this season, as both have been taken yard 14 times apiece.
His HR/FB percentage isn't abnormally high at 15.5%, though it is considerably higher than the 12% he posted last season when he won the NL Cy Young with the Cincinnati Reds.
Nevertheless, Bauer is vowing to get to the root of the problem by looking into advanced stats and video after surrendering three more against the St. Louis Cardinals during Monday's start.
"I can't continue to give up 40% of my hits for homers, that can't hold," Bauer said. "But my home-run-to-fly-ball rate is kind of average. I'm gonna look at some distributions of pitches and pitch types and locations and try to figure out if there's something I can adjust.
"It's very odd because I don't give up many hits, and all of a sudden, when I do, it's a home run. Hopefully, it regresses back to the mean, but we'll dig in and see if we can figure it out. My gut reaction is it's not anything necessarily that I'm doing. It's not one specific pitch. It's righties and lefties. There aren’t any patterns."
Aside from the inflated home run numbers, Bauer has come as advertised after signing a three-year, $102-million contract with the Dodgers this offseason. He's 6-3 with a 2.24 ERA, a 0.83 WHIP, and 96 strikeouts.
