Baseball pitcher Trevor Bauer has been accused by another woman of sexual assault and choking her unconscious, this time in Arizona in late 2020, when the woman said in court filings that he raped her, got her pregnant and also held a jagged steak knife to her throat.
Bauer, 32, has denied the allegations in court records and has countersued the woman, accusing her of fraud, extortion and fabricating her pregnancy. The woman filed her civil complaint against him in December and then amended it more recently with details of her alleged encounters with him, becoming the fourth publicly known woman to make similar allegations against the former Cy Young Award winner.
Bauer since has moved on to play professionally in Japan after being suspended by Major League Baseball under its sexual assault and domestic abuse policy. He was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers in January and then went unsigned by other teams in MLB after being reinstated from his 194-game suspension, the longest in MLB history under that policy.
The Arizona woman asked for $3.7 million in her lawsuit, along with an “apology to any women the defendant has sexually humiliated and abused against their consent.”
Bauer’s legal team has responded by saying the lawsuit “is another attempt to harass and extort Mr. Bauer.”
Follow the money: MLB player salaries and payrolls for every major league team
What is Trevor Bauer’s response?
His attorneys are fighting back, saying he had a single, consensual encounter with the Arizona woman in December 2020, when he said the condom broke during sex. After that encounter, the woman claimed she was pregnant and demanded $1.6 million to terminate her pregnancy, according to Bauer’s countersuit against the woman. His attorneys stated in court documents that Bauer made an audio recording of this demand.
Bauer declined to pay this demand and told her the decision whether to have the child was her own and that he would support her decision, including paying any medical expenses or child support required by law, according to his filing from April.
He ended up paying $8,761 for the expenses related to her “alleged pregnancy and its subsequent termination,” according to his countersuit.
“Based on (the woman’s) demand letter and failure to provide any medical records to substantiate her pregnancy or termination thereof, Mr. Bauer now believes that (the woman) fabricated her pregnancy to try to extort him for money,” his countersuit states.
His countersuit states he met the woman via Instagram, much like how he met a woman from San Diego in 2021 who then made similar allegations against him in court in late June 2021. That case was the first to go public with such allegations against him and led to an investigation by MLB and police in Pasadena, California.
Bauer was never arrested or charged in any of the cases. But after the San Diego woman came forward, two other women from Ohio made similar accusations against him in the Washington Post.
Months after the San Diego woman came forward, Bauer’s attorneys noted the Arizona woman sent a demand letter through an attorney and for the first time accused him of various improprieties, “echoing claims made by his public accuser (the San Diego woman).”
In Arizona, Scottsdale police said they have a report of a sexual assault involving Bauer dated Dec. 20 but said it is listed as “inactive” with no charges filed. His attorneys said the woman has “serious credibility issues.” They didn’t immediately return messages Tuesday seeking further comment. An attorney for the Arizona woman declined comment.
Where did this come from?
The Arizona woman’s allegations recently surfaced in court documents that stem from a civil defamation lawsuit Bauer brought against the San Diego woman last year. The documents, filed by the San Diego woman’s attorney, also reference another woman besides the Ohio women, the Arizona woman and the San Diego woman. This other woman, described as Jane Doe 5, reached out to the San Diego woman’s former attorney about a sexual interaction with Bauer, according to the filings. The details of that case are redacted in the court filing.
In the Arizona case, the woman describes a tumultuous relationship and series of incidents with Bauer in Scottsdale, Arizona. USA TODAY’s policy is not to identify victims of alleged sexual assault unless they agree to be named.
On Dec. 12, 2020, she said she was having dinner with Bauer and sitting on his lap while watching UFC.
“The Defendant swiftly caught me off guard and held me at knife point,” her court filing stated. “The Defendant placed his jagged steak knife to my throat. I was stunned and did not dare to move. The Defendant asked me, ‘Have you ever been held at knife point?’ to which I hesitantly respond, ‘No.’ The Defendant took a deep breath in and exhaled. The Defendant’s steak knife scratched my throat as he released me and I got up from his lap.”
Two days later, she described a more violent encounter with him and said he raped her.
“The Defendant then takes my butterfly braids and uses them as rope to choke me unconscious with my hair,” her filing states. “When I was conscious yet delirious, I recall being on my back while hearing the Defendant yell unusual sounds/moaning.”
Her filing states that she was bedridden for several days afterward with pain on her scalp, neck and head. She also referenced “medical records” and an X-ray.
The last incident she described in her amended complaint was in March 2021.
“The Defendant invited himself into my home, gaslit me as he recorded me,” the filing stated. “Later in my bedroom, the Defendant disrobes himself without care while my bedroom windows are wide open for all to see. Knowing I am pregnant, the defendant body slams me on my back on top of my computer breaking the screen before telling me he will no longer be in a relationship with me if I have this baby.”
Bauer disputes all of this and said an audio recording shows this claim is also false.
The MLB case
In response, the Arizona woman said she recorded several video diaries and journal entries to use in family court outlining the “rape, abuse and pregnancy” – documentation she said was made before the first public accusation in June 2021.
“Unless (Bauer) has discovered time travel, it is highly unlike (sic) the (woman) traveled into the future and returned to the past to create alleged ‘echoed claims,’ ” the woman said in a filing last month. “Metadata will attest. From these recorded video diaries, Major League Baseball was able to corroborate the claims of the various victims that were mentioned.”
The woman then said Bauer is using “highly distorted allegations” to “bait her into a rabbit hole of self explanation and character and distract the court.”
It’s not clear how involved she was with the MLB investigation or how any of her documentation was used in it. MLB also spoke to the San Diego woman and two Ohio women as part of its investigation, according to court records filed by the San Diego woman.
MLB initially suspended Bauer for 324 games, but Bauer appealed, leading to a private arbitration proceeding in which the San Diego woman also said she testified for several days.
The arbitrator in that proceeding later reduced Bauer’s punishment to 194 games, which is still the longest in MLB history under that policy.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
