Editor’s note: This story contains graphic accounts of domestic violence and sexual assault. If you or someone you know is a survivor of sexual assault or domestic violence, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or the Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
MLB and the players’ association have agreed to extend Trevor Bauer’s administrative leave through April 16, a league source told Sports Illustrated’s Stephanie Apstein.
Bauer’s leave was originally due to expire on March 19, and now, he cannot report to spring training during this set window. Los Angeles opens its season on April 8.
The Dodgers star last pitched on June 28 and was placed on administrative leave in July following allegations of sexual misconduct, which he has repeatedly denied.
Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports
The woman said she met Bauer on two different occasions, describing violent encounters that she said began as consensual sex. She alleged that Bauer choked her unconscious with her own hair and penetrated her anally without consent in April 2021. A similar incident, the woman said, happened in May, when Bauer, according to her account, choked her unconscious and was repeatedly punching her in the head when she regained consciousness.
She left the encounters with various injuries, including head and face trauma, but Bauer denied the allegations, saying she had asked for rough sex.
The woman sought a five-year restraining order against Bauer—the maximum under California law. The judge dissolved a temporary order on Aug. 19 and denied the five-year order, saying he is not a future threat to the woman in California.
The court ultimately found that the woman’s claims were “materially misleading,” and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dianna Gould-Saltman said the only evidence of anything happening while the woman was unconscious was from being “hit on the butt.”
Additionally, Gould-Saltman's focus on consent related only to whether the woman consented to having rough sex with Bauer, which she did. “If she set limits and he exceeded them, this case would've been clear,” the judge said. “But she set limits without considering all the consequences and [Bauer] did not exceed limits that the petitioner set ... they were consequences of the acts which she did consent to, including being choked.”
Bauer also will not face criminal charges, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said in February. In a statement after the DA’s office announced its decision, Bauer said, in part, “I had consensual sex with this woman on two occasions at my residence in Pasadena, during which we engaged in rough sex. This is something that she brought up, we discussed together, and both agreed to engage in. We established rules and boundaries and I followed them. On both occasions, she consented beforehand when we established those boundaries. She also repeatedly consented during sex, when I asked her multiple times if she was enjoying herself and if she wanted to continue. In fact, she continued to direct me as to what she wanted in no uncertain terms.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred can still hand down a punishment and suspend Bauer under the league’s and the players association’s joint domestic violence policy, which can be read here.
