Right-handed special pitcher Trevor Bower (32, Yokohama DeNA Baystars), who was expelled from the American Professional Baseball Major League (MLB) for sexual assault, stands on the Japanese professional baseball mound after controversy.
Japanese media such as Sponichi said on the 2nd, “Bauer will start a home game against the Hiroshima Toyo Carp held at Yokohama Stadium, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan on the 3rd.”
It is the first time for Bower, who joined Yokohama last month, to stand on the stage of the first team in Japanese professional baseball. In the meantime, he checked his physical condition in the second team and prepared for his first team debut.
Bower is a top-class pitcher with a record of 83 wins, 69 losses, and an ERA of 3.79 in his MLB career.
From 2015 to 2019, he achieved more than 10 wins for four consecutive years, and won the National League Cy Young Award in the 2020 season while playing for the Cincinnati Reds.
In February 2021, he signed a free agent (FA) contract with the Los Angeles (LA) Dodgers for 102 million dollars (about 136.9 billion won) for 3 years and opened an era of 40 million dollars (53.7 billion won) in annual salary.
However, in 2021, the first year of the contract, he was investigated by the US prosecutors for using violence during sex with a woman, and the Dodgers took action to release Bower.
No team in MLB reached out to Bower. Bauer, who left the United States, signed a contract with Yokohama for 400 million yen (3.9 billion won) for one year. 메이저놀이터
It caused a lot of controversy in the United States, but in Japan, there is a tolerant atmosphere regarding Bower’s sexual violence.
The Associated Press reported the atmosphere of the press conference on the 24th of last month and pointed out that “out of about 75 Japanese reporters who attended the conference, not a single one asked questions about sexual assault.”
Yokohama is also carrying out active marketing activities with Bauer at the forefront.
Yokohama recently received a membership fee of up to 2.2 million yen (21.5 million won) and recruited Bower’s VIP fan club, and from the 1st, it is selling special T-shirts featuring Bower’s image. The game on the 3rd, in which Bower will start, sold out early.