GOODYEAR, Ariz.-- Terry Francona and Mickey Callaway have called Trevor Bauer the most analytical pitcher they have coached. And that's perfectly fine with them.
"He's analytical and does a lot of research but it doesn't affect him. It's his process and gives him confidence," Callaway said. "If it were us saying don't do that, and it affects his confidence that would be worse. He does everything for a reason, and it makes him better."
After being injured in 2012, changing his mechanics in 2013 and getting almost a full season in the American League last season, Bauer comes into this season simply looking to improve. And for the first time in his professional career there is another word that can be used to describe Bauer - comfortable. While there were some rumors last season of Bauer and the Indians butting heads at times, his goals and the team's goals for him are the same.
When asked if this is the most relaxed he has been in the majors, Bauer didn't hesitate when he said, "For sure. They do a good job of communicating, and I feel like they're on my side."
Francona added that both sides are close on the same goals, but that Bauer may word it differently. The conversations between both sides though have been more productive especially during the past year.
"When you tell him something you have to have a reason for telling him something. I see no problem with that," Francona said. "I give him credit, even at times when he hasn't agreed with us he'll go home at night and thought through it. The next day he'll have it figured out."
Callaway equated Bauer searching out different pitching guys as the same as when Bauer comes to Callaway for advice or when Bauer does research in a video room. As long as there is a purpose behind it, everything is good.
Two of Bauer's three favorite things - baseball and drones - made news the first weekend of spring training. Bauer flew a drone over the Indians Player Development Complex and took photos during a workout that he posted to his Twitter account. That drew the eyes of Major League Baseball, who told him to ground it.
The past couple weeks Bauer has redesigned the engines on his drone and taken it out on test flights, just not near the team complex. Another of Bauer's favorite things is Duke basketball. When the Cavaliers' Kyrie Irving visited Progressive Field last season to take batting practice, Bauer got Irving to autograph a Duke jersey.
Last season Bauer was 5-8 with a 4.18 ERA in 26 starts last season, but tied for fourth among American League rookies in strikeouts (143) and fifth in innings pitched (153). His 8.41 strikeouts per nine innings were third in team history among rookie pitchers. He pitched into the fifth in all but one of his starts and struck out at least eight in seven starts.
For his part, Bauer wasn't happy with last season and said that he was often frustrated after games.
"It was a step in the right direction but no relief to it. There is still a long way to go," he said.
Of all the Indians pitchers though, Bauer suffered from a lack of run support. According to STATS LLC, Bauer had the ninth-worst run support average (3.94) of the 61 pitchers in the American League that faced 500 batters or more.
During spring training, there are two areas that Bauer is working on - getting off to a better start in games and limiting walks.
Even though Bauer said he tried everything to alleviate his first-inning struggles last season -- his 5.54 first-inning ERA was 14th highest among right-handers - but Francona said there was one thing that Bauer didn't do. That was keeping it simple early.
"When Trevor would start the game out he had a tendency to use all his pitches. Then the bases would be loaded," Francona said. "After that you would look up six innings later and he hadn't given much up. We think he understands now that as you go longer into a game you can expand things."
Bauer's biggest goal is trying to have better command of his pitches. Since last year marked the first time that Bauer has been in the majors in September, he got a later start on his offseason program, which for him could have been frustrating.
That frustration has eased during spring training as Bauer thinks he is further ahead of where he would be at this point. He also has a spot in the rotation instead of competing for one and can use the next five weeks as a buildup to the regular season.
"The typical thing is to focus more but then everyone will tell you in the offseason to take time off so how can you work on command? There has to be a way to expedite it," Bauer said. "I did a lot of reading on motor learning and developed a program to help me improve permanently. It is encouraging."
Francona also hopes that Bauer has improved body language on the mound. Bauer would be angry at himself but often it translated to the umpires thinking that Bauer was angry at them.
Through the first three weeks of spring training, Francona and Callaway continue to be encouraged by Bauer's improvement. Bauer will make his first Cactus League start on Friday against the Royals.
"I would say the improvements from 2013 to last year were unbelievable, and he has doubled that improvement this past year," Callaway said.
