Trevor Bauer, 32, of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars, is turning heads in Japan with his out-of-the-box behavior.
“Bauer is making an unusual call to fans on Twitter to vote for him,” Japan Full Count reported on July 7 (JST).
The vote is for the All-Star Game. The Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star Game will be held on July 19. Fan voting is underway to select the players who will participate.
The NPB announced the midway point of the fan voting today. Bauer was listed in the Central League starting pitcher category, and he was ranked seventh, down one spot from sixth the day before.
That’s when Bauer took action. He took to Twitter to encourage fans to vote for him. He even offered a small prize. He promised to record a 30-minute All-Star Game vlog.
Fans responded. According to Japan’s PullCount, “This is an attractive offer. I voted for the first time in my life,” and “I have no choice but to do this (vote),” according to Japan’s PullCount.스포츠토토
But it’s not having much of an effect. As of 5 p.m. on July 7, he is still in seventh place with 43,613 votes. In first place is Shoki Murakami (Hanshin) with 175,799 votes. Bauer has more than four times as many votes. Fan voting closes on the 18th. It will be interesting to see if Bauer’s efforts will pay off.