Trevor Bauer suing journalist & The Athletic for defamation

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer is suing The Athletic and former writer Molly Knight for defamation.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer announced on Twitter on Tuesday that he has filed a lawsuit against sports publication, The Athletic, and former writer Molly Knight for “knowingly publishing false information.” Also attached to the tweet was a link to the lawsuit.

This is now the second lawsuit Bauer has filed against a publication, with the first being Deadspin.

Back in February, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office would not be criminally charging Bauer for sexual assault allegations made in 2021.

Trevor Bauer files defamation lawsuit against The Athletic, Molly Knight

Bauer’s suit claims that The Athletic and Knight, “defamed Mr. Bauer by creating and spreading the false narrative that Mr. Bauer fractured the Complainant’s skull” in an article published last June. The pitcher’s legal team says in the suit that the article had ignored results of a CT scan that ruled out a skull fracture.

“Defendants acted with actual malice because they deliberately ignored the truth—which was evident in the medical records possessed by The Athletic— and because the Defendants’ defamatory statements were part of a campaign to harass Mr. Bauer, as evidenced by, among other actions, their prior and subsequent false and misleading statements about his conduct and character, their efforts to dissuade Major League Baseball teams from signing him, and their strident complaints about the Los Angeles Dodgers’ decision to add him to their team.”

Bauer has been placed on MLB’s administrative leave list since last July, and it has recently been extended until April 16, when he faces potential discipline from the league.

He had pitched in 17 games in 2021, recording an 8-5 record, a 2.59 ERA, and 137 strikeouts over 107.2 innings.