Former Major League pitcher Trevor Bauer drew criticism in Japan on Wednesday after he appeared to express support on social media for a U.S. Navy officer jailed over a car crash that killed two Japanese citizens.
Bauer, a free agent who played the 2023 season with the Yokohama DeNa BayStars of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball following his suspension and release from the LA Dodgers amid sexual abuse allegations, posted an Instagram comment to the page of Lt Ridge Alkonis, who was released from Japanese custody last month while serving a three-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to the negligent deaths of a woman and her son-in-law in May 2021.
Alkonis was released from U.S. custody on Friday, a month after he was returned to the United States and placed in federal prison. His family has said the crash was an accident caused when he lost consciousness during a trip to Mount Fuji. Japanese prosecutors alleged that he fell asleep while drowsy and refrained from stopping because he became fatigued. The case has generated significant publicity over the past year and a half and had become a periodic point of tension between the two allies.
Bauer’s short message underneath a photo on Alkonis’ Instagram feed: “Welcome home Ridge!” – sparked a social media firestorm in Japan, where a tweet denounced the 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner has been retweeted almost 20,000 times with over 26 million total views.
21.5 years, 🇺🇸Ridge Alkonis, 54 years, 85 years, 85.85 years ago
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More information認定され懲役3年実刑判決
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22年7月、判決を受け横須賀刑務所へ収監
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Alkonis is one of the most important… pic.twitter.com/BA5N2C47oT— 滝沢ガレソ🪄 (@takigare3) January 16, 2024
Bauer was placed on administrative leave by MLB in July 2021 amid allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman on two separate occasions at his Pasadena home during what she said began as consensual sexual encounters between them. Bauer, 32, denied the claim and said the encounters were consensual.
Prosecutors decided not to file charges in February 2022. Bauer and the woman settled their civil lawsuit in October.
Bauer, who signed a three-year, $103 million contract with the Dodgers in 2021, was suspended by MLB for a whopping 324 games — a ban reduced to 194 games by an independent arbitrator in December 2022 — for the joint domestic violence and sexual assault of the competition. and child abuse policy. After Bauer’s suspension ended, the Dodgers cut him and no team picked him up, leading him to sign a one-year contract with Yokohama, where he was selected by the fans as an All-Star. (Los Angeles paid Bauer more than $22 million last season even though he wasn’t on the roster.)
The veteran right-hander faces a different accusation than an Arizona woman who claims in a lawsuit that he held a knife to her throat and choked her until she passed out during a rape that left her pregnant in late 2020.
Bauer was never arrested or charged and has filed a countersuit, denying the allegations and accusing the woman of faking a pregnancy and trying to extort money from him.
The New York Post reported in November that Bauer’s agents met MLB teams hoping to plan his return to the Major League.