Bauer, whom the Dodgers released this offseason after he received the longest suspension ever administered under Major League Baseball’s sexual assault and domestic abuse policy, denied the claims in a countersuit against the woman and accused her of fraud, extortion and fabricating her pregnancy. The litigation was first reported by USA Today.
According to the woman’s lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court in December 2022, she and Bauer had a relationship in late 2020. The lawsuit described several incidents in which Bauer is accused of choking her and forcibly grabbing her, one encounter in which he is accused of holding a jagged steak knife to her throat and another in which he is accused of raping her at an Arizona residence.
In his countersuit against the woman, Bauer denied assaulting or sexually assaulting the woman.
Bauer’s countersuit claimed he and the woman had a “single, consensual sexual encounter” in December 2020 during which his condom broke while having sex. After that encounter, Bauer’s countersuit says, the woman claimed she was pregnant and demanded $1.6 million from the pitcher to terminate the pregnancy.
Bauer’s countersuit said he declined that demand and instead offered to “support her decision, including paying any necessary medical expenses or child support payments required by law.” His countersuit says he ultimately paid the woman more than $8,000 to terminate her pregnancy.
However, the countersuit says Bauer now believes the woman “fabricated her pregnancy to try and extort him for money.”
The Times does not name victims who claim they have been sexually assaulted unless they consent to being identified.
Bauer is facing no criminal charges stemming from the allegations.
The Arizona woman is the fourth to publicly accuse Bauer of sexual violence. The former Cy Young Award-winning pitcher signed with a professional team in Japan this season after being released by the Dodgers in January.
Bauer was first publicly accused of sexual assault in June 2021 by a San Diego woman, who requested a permanent restraining order against him and alleged he punched and choked her until she lost consciousness.
Bauer denied those claims, faced no criminal charges and had the restraining order against him denied by a judge who ruled Bauer posed no future threat to the woman.
However, he spent the remainder of the 2021 season and the start of the 2022 season on administrative leave while MLB investigated the claims.
In April 2022, the league suspended Bauer for 324 games. He appealed the suspension to an independent arbitrator, who in December reduced the suspension to 194 games.
That suspension length was still the longest in the seven-year history of the league’s domestic violence policy. And in early January, the Dodgers decided to release Bauer — even though they still had to pay the remaining $22.5 million of the three-year, $102-million contract he signed with the team in February 2021.
By the time Bauer was released by the Dodgers, two other women in Ohio accused him of sexual assault, the Washington Post reported. Bauer denied their claims.