It’s the same team Bauer pitched for in 2023 before he spent 2024 in Mexico. The 34-year-old right-hander last pitched in the majors for the Dodgers in 2021. He was then suspended for violating MLB’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy, though he’s been eligible to pitch for major league teams since 2023.

Bauer worked out of a bases loaded jam in the second inning, getting Anthony Volpe to strike out swinging. He scattered four hits and two walks over his three scoreless frames. The 33-year-old right-hander signed on with the Diablos Rojas in hopes to catch on with a major league team at some point.

Bauer will face the Yankees in a scheduled exhibition game on March 24 and then will start in five regular-season games in Mexico, the last coming on May 8. He hopes to land with an MLB club afterwards. Bauer spent last year in Japan after receiving no interest from major league teams.

The 33-year-old is hoping to get noticed by professional scouts and this is one way of doing it. The team he’s playing for is called Asian Breeze, a traveling club from Japan that plays scrimmages against squads of minor-leaguers from MLB clubs. Ironically, he will be going up players within the Dodgers organization. Los Angeles has distanced itself from Bauer since he was released in January of 2023 after serving the longest suspension (194 games) in the history of MLB and MLBPA’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy. This will be closest Bauer has come to a MLB-affiliated competition since his suspension.