Former MLB star pitcher Trevor Bauer has locked in a new deal that will bring him to one of the Dominican Republic’s top professional baseball clubs for the upcoming winter league season, senior ESPN baseball reporter Enrique Rojas has confirmed. The American right-hander has reached a formal agreement with Estrellas Orientales, the San Pedro de Macorís-based franchise, to add his arm to their roster for the 2026-27 Dominican Professional Baseball League (Lidom), which is set to kick off its regular season on October 16. Team executives and analysts are already framing Bauer’s signing as one of the most high-profile roster acquisitions the club has made for this year’s winter tournament.
Bauer, who claimed the 2020 National League Cy Young Award for his dominant performance with the Los Angeles Dodgers, has not appeared in a Major League Baseball game since 2021. He was sidelined for nearly two seasons after the league issued an unprecedented 324-game suspension under its domestic violence and sexual assault policy, a penalty that was later cut to 194 games by an independent arbitrator brought in to review the case. The Dodgers granted Bauer his release shortly before his suspension concluded in January 2023, and he has consistently denied all allegations leveled against him, with no criminal conviction ever handed down in a court of law.
Since leaving MLB, Bauer has rebuilt his professional career overseas and across independent North American and Latin American leagues, turning in standout performances that have kept him in the global baseball spotlight. After his release, he first signed with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), where he delivered impressive numbers across his tenure: over 264.1 innings of work, Bauer notched a solid 3.64 earned run average and racked up 249 strikeouts, earning a selection to the 2023 NPB All-Star Game for his strong form. Most recently, Bauer pitched in Mexico’s top professional league, where he captured the 2024 Pitcher of the Year honor and led the Diablos Rojos franchise to a league championship, cementing his status as one of the most dominant active pitchers outside of MLB.