Bauer won't return this season after assault probe: reports

Trevor Bauer will not play again this year after being placed on leave for the remainder of the season following assault allegations against the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher, multiple US reports said Friday.

Several reports said Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association had agreed to extend Bauer's administrative leave until after the World Series.

The 30-year-old reigning National League Cy Young Award winner has not played since being placed on leave by MLB in July after the assault allegations against him emerged.

A 27-year-old woman says Bauer punched her and choked her unconscious during separate sexual encounters in April and May this year.

Bauer has denied any wrongdoing, with his attorney and representatives saying all the encounters were entirely consensual.

Police have completed an investigation into the allegations and have passed Bauer's file to prosecutors who must now decide whether to pursue the case.

The pitcher's accuser had a request for a five-year restraining order denied during a Los Angeles Superior Court hearing last month.

Separately, the Washington Post reported in August that Bauer was the subject of a temporary order of protection in June 2020 by an Ohio woman who said Bauer punched and choked her during sex without consent.

Bauer has denied those allegations, accusing the woman and her attorneys of "making good on their threats to harm me by perpetuating a false narrative."

The Dodgers signed Bauer this year on a three-year deal worth $102 million following the pitcher's departure from the Cincinnati Reds.

© 2021 AFP