Bauer enters his first season with the Ducks and 15th in professional baseball. The right-hander is a 10-year Major League veteran, having pitched with the Arizona Diamondbacks (2012), Cleveland Indians (2013-19), Cincinnati Reds (2019-20) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2021). In 222 MLB games (212 starts), he compiled an 83-69 record with a 3.79 ERA, six complete games, three shutouts, one save and 1,416 strikeouts to 491 walks over 1,297.2 innings pitched. The 35-year-old also pitched in 11 games (seven starts) during the postseason, reaching the World Series with Cleveland in 2016. He has a 2.94 career ERA in the playoffs with 44 strikeouts to just eight walks in 33.2 innings.

The North Hollywood, Calif., native put together a Cy Young Award winning season with the Reds in 2020. He led the National League with a 1.73 ERA that year, going 5-4 in 11 starts with two complete game shutouts and 100 strikeouts to only 17 walks in 73.0 innings of work. The University of California, Los Angeles alum was named an American League All-Star in 2018 with Cleveland and posted a 12-6 record with a 2.21 ERA and 221 strikeouts in 28 games (27 starts). Most recently, he spent the past three seasons pitching with the Yokohama Bay Stars in Japan (2023, 2025) and Diablos Rojos del Mexico (2024). Bauer was originally selected by the Diamondbacks in the first round (third overall) of the 2011 amateur draft.