Jeff Schudel weighs in on Bauer’s progress

Trevor Bauer, who is set to take the mound Aug. 14 in Boston, has become a reliable starter. “He’s like a scientist explaining a shortcut to Mars no one else knows about,” Jeff Schudel writes.

Sitting at the desk next to Trevor Bauer in high school in Santa Clarita, Calif., or in college at UCLA must have been a treat.

While the teacher or professor was droning on about some boring subject, it is easy to imagine Bauer doodling flight paths of his personal drone, diagraming flight paths of his curveball, or reading some book that had nothing to do with the subject being taught and still acing the course.

Bauer, scheduled to start a makeup game for the Indians with the Red Sox on Aug. 14 in Boston, has steadily become a very, very reliable starter for Tribe manager Terry Francona. Bauer is quirky and a bit of a loner in the clubhouse. But he is winning and a solid part of what should be a formidable October rotation in the postseason.

The numbers do not lie. Bauer is 3-0 over his last four starts. He pitched well enough to be 4-0 in that stretch, but the bullpen failed to hold the fort when he left with a 2-1 lead after pitching sevenplus innings against the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 9. He is allowed just one earned run in each of his last three starts.

Listening to Bauer talk about his success with his curveball and when he feels the time is right to throw his two-seam fastball is fascinating. He’s like a scientist explaining a shortcut to Mars no one else knows about.

“It’s a plus-pitch in a vacuum,” Bauer said of his curve after his last start. “Throwing it whenever is a pretty good idea. The rest of it comes down to game-feel, intuition and reading what the hitter’s doing, what the hitter’s telling you.

“You keep in mind they’re big-league hitters, so if you do the same thing to them all the time it becomes less effective because they start looking for it. Sure, there are some guys you can do the same thing to — because of their swing or whatever they can’t hit it. But for the most part you have to disguise what you’re doing and take the information the hitter’s giving you.

“You could tell when guys are starting to slow their bats down a little bit to deal with it, or trying to elevate their eyesight or whatever so you throw something else. It’s just game-feel.”

Bauer’s curveball can bite the dirt and make batters look foolish as they flail away at the pitch. His two-seamer breaks down and to the right when thrown properly.

Bauer’s ERA has dropped in each of his last four starts and now sits at 4.79. He isn’t an ace, but with the exception of a July 16 start against the A’s in which he was pulled after allowing four runs in two-thirds of an inning, he has lasted at least five innings in each of nine other starts in a streak that began on June 13. His strikeout to walk ratio in the last three games is excellent — 6-1, 7-2, 9-0.

“He has been really good for the most part lately,” Francona said. “There’s been a hiccup, but everybody except (Corey) Kluber has them.

“It’s good to see (zero walks), but some days you’re going to have some if you’re navigating your way through a lineup. With Trevor, that means he’s attacking as opposed to spraying balls.”

Francona was forced to start Bauer four times in the postseason last year because Carlos Carrasco (hand) and Danny Salazar (forearm) were injured. Bauer was tagged with two losses against the Cubs in the World Series.

Bauer will earn starts in the playoffs if he continues to pitch the way he has his last four starts.