CLEVELAND _ Trevor Bauer has been on the disabled list for a few weeks now, but he hasn't stopped fuming about the line drive that has derailed his career-best 2018 season.
Bauer was hit with a come-backer off the bat of Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu on Aug. 11. He was then placed on the 10-day disabled list with a stress fracture in his right fibula and an original timetable of 4-to-6 weeks, putting his return some time in mid-September.
Bauer was leading baseball in fWAR at the time. He has a 12-6 record, 2.22 ERA and 214 strikeouts in 166 innings, which had him squarely in the American League Cy Young conversation. Missing at least a month of starts has made a major dent in his chances.
"Yeah, it's still present," Bauer said when asked about his frustration related to the fluke injury. "You can probably hear it in my voice. The one thing I'm better at than anybody else is the one thing keeping me out right now, through no fault of my own. So it pisses me off."
Bauer was speaking to his durability and the work he puts in to condition his body in order to stay on the field. But, there's no conditioning program for taking a line drive off the leg.
"I hit the DL because I got hit on a freaking line drive, not because I can't handle a workload or take care of my shoulder or I'm lazy with my recovery or whatever," Bauer said. "So, I'm just sitting here and all of my personal season goals are slowly drifting away because I took a (expletive) line drive off the ankle."
Bauer said he threw off a mound on Monday and was able to participate in long toss up to 320 feet. He was also walking around without the medical boot and instead had a sleeve around his shin.
"I've lost track of time. I've been here for, like, nine hours a day for the past two weeks doing stuff, so I don't really have a good perception of what day it is," Bauer said. "I just know what I need to do next."
Bauer can throw while he's on the disabled list, meaning once his fibula is healed, he should be closer to returning than if there was a rehab schedule related to an arm injury. The question might be how the Indians go about getting Bauer on the mound before activating him because of the schedules of the Indians' minor-league affiliates.
"In Trevor's instance, there may not be (minor-league) games," manager Terry Francona said. "But if his arm is in shape, maybe he only pitches for us. That would be the best, I think, if he pitches for us a couple (or) three times before the season is over. That would be terrific. I don't know if that's going to be the case or not."
