MLB

Trevor Bauer to face Dodgers with Japanese showcase team

Trevor Bauer is expected to face off against the organization that released him last year.

The right-handed pitcher joined Asian Breeze — a traveling Japanese baseball team — which is slated to take on the Dodgers on Sunday, the team announced.

“Asian Breeze is extremely excited to announce that Trevor Bauer will be making his Asian Breeze debut on March 10th against the Los Angeles Dodgers Organization,” the barnstorming team wrote in a press release on Thursday.

Trevor Bauer is joining on with a Japanese showcase team.
Trevor Bauer is joining on with a Japanese showcase team. AP

The self-described showcase team is expected to take on Dodgers minor leaguers on a back field at the team’s spring training facility at Camelback Ranch in Arizona, the L.A. Times reported.

The outlet added that Asian Breeze asked Bauer to pitch in some games — and picked his opponents — in Arizona this spring.

The Post’s Jon Heyman reported Thursday that Bauer, 33, is still trying to catch on with an MLB club.

Bauer, who signed a three-year, $102 million contract before the 2021 season, has not pitched in a major league game since that summer when he was placed on administrative leave over allegations of sexual assault.

He was initially suspended 324 games under MLB’s domestic violence policy in 2022, but he was reinstated after just 194 games after an arbitrator’s ruling that December.

Yokohama BayStars Trevor Bauer is surrounded by the reporters in Yokosuka, Japan, Sunday, April 16, 2023.
Yokohama BayStars Trevor Bauer is surrounded by the reporters in Yokosuka, Japan, Sunday, April 16, 2023. AP

Days later, the Dodgers gave him his release, and he has not pitched in the majors since.

Bauer has denied the allegations against him and has never been charged with a crime.

He pitched with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yokohama Bay Stars in Japan last season, going 10-4 with 130 strikeouts in 130 ²/₃ innings with a 2.76 ERA.

Baseball agent/lawyer Jon Fetterolf told Heyman in February that Bauer is willing to take a minimum salary — $740,000, plus incentives — to join a major league squad again.

“This isn’t about the money,” Fetterolf said. “Really, what he’s looking for is only a chance and an opportunity.

“I really feel like he’s done everything he can possibly do. This isn’t a guy charged with a crime. Yes, he was suspended, but he served his suspension.”