Right-handed pitcher Trevor Bauer has reached an agreement to join the Estrellas Orientales for the 2026-27 Dominican Winter League season, adding a high-profile name to a LIDOM rotation that opens Friday, Oct. 16.
Enrique Rojas/ESPN on X (formerly Twitter): “Las Estrellas Orientales del béisbol invernal dominicano alcanzaron un acuerdo con el lanzador norteamericano Trevor Bauer para la temporada que arranca el 16 de octubre, dijeron fuentes a ESPN. / X”
Las Estrellas Orientales del béisbol invernal dominicano alcanzaron un acuerdo con el lanzador norteamericano Trevor Bauer para la temporada que arranca el 16 de octubre, dijeron fuentes a ESPN.
Bauer, 35, last pitched in Major League Baseball in 2021. He spent this summer with the Diablos Rojos del México of the Mexican League, going 4-1 with a 4.41 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 32.2 innings. The former National League Cy Young Award winner (2020, Cincinnati) has spent the past several seasons abroad, including a 2024 Mexican League campaign in which he went 10-0 with a 2.48 ERA and 120 strikeouts in 83.1 innings, and a stint with Japan’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars.
Contract terms and the number of starts were not disclosed. Bauer had publicly declared himself available for winter ball earlier this year, saying he wanted competitive innings and a path toward the Caribbean Series in February 2027.
The Estrellas, based at Estadio Tetelo Vargas in San Pedro de Macorís, open the regular season on the road against the Toros del Este in La Romana. LIDOM’s six-team schedule runs through Dec. 22 before the round-robin and championship series.
For a pitcher still seeking a return to affiliated baseball in the United States, winter ball in the Dominican Republic remains one of the most visible stages available: nightly television, packed parks, and scouts from both MLB and international clubs. Bauer’s combination of big-league pedigree and recent work in Mexico gives the Estrellas a veteran starter who can eat innings and miss bats if his stuff holds in the Caribbean heat.
Whether the assignment becomes a springboard back to MLB or simply another chapter in a long international career will play out over the next two months in San Pedro de Macorís. For now, one of the more polarizing arms of the last decade has a new uniform and a firm start date: Oct. 16.
