Q: With Adam Plutko in the rotation now, is it strange to be teammates with someone who you were teammates with in college? And what’s it been like to see his progression?

Bauer: “It’s not weird at all. Obviously, we’ve known each other a while and have a long history together. It’s the same thing I went through with Charles Brewer when I was with Arizona. I pitched with him in 2009 and then we were teammates in Double-A and Triple-A. He was here for a little bit, later, a couple years back. So, it’s something I’m familiar with and it’s just really cool to see our entire 2011 pitching rotation is going to be playing in this series — well, I guess he won’t technically pitch in this series — but we’re all on the big-league roster for this series with the Astros. So, that’s pretty cool to see. It’s a testament to all of the talent level and the hard work of all three members of that staff that are now here. It’s just really cool. Very cool. I’ve talked to [Plutko]a little bit in Spring Trainings over the years about mechanical stuff, or pitch mix or how to throw a pitch type or whatever. Especially with what happened last year, the [hip] surgery he had, to see him come back from it so strong and the velo’s up a little bit, he’s pitched really well when he’s come up this year, so that’s been really fun to watch.”

Q: How much fun was it to see Plutko help lead UCLA to the College World Series title in 2013 after your teams came so close?

Bauer: “Yeah, what he did in 2013, he pitched with a freaking broken scapula or broken back and went full Mike Tyson on people. We got to the final series in 2010 and couldn’t finish it. It was the most successful UCLA team there had ever been and then a couple years later, he finished it off. It’s been cool to watch his progression as a person, as a player and as a teammate.”

Q: Not that you need extra motivation, but is there a difference between pitching in a random game in the middle of the season, compared to taking on the Astros, given the history there?

Bauer: “There’s extra excitement. You get up for it when you know you have a good pitching matchup or you’re facing a good team or you know people on the other team or whatever. Not that I draw on that for motivation, but you’re conscious of it and there’s extra excitement, maybe a little extra adrenaline or something. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it is or how much of an affect it really has, but yeah, as an athlete, you’re conscious of the matchup.”

Q: The rotation could’ve been aligned for you to miss this series. Were you happy to have the chance to face Houston?

Bauer: “I start when they tell me to start. If they don’t want me to pitch for 10 days, then that’s what I do. If they want me to pitch every other day, then I’d love that. Whatever. It just happened to be on schedule and I’m pitching well out of the main part of the rotation.”

Q: So much has been made of what Cole’s doing this year and the history between the two of you. Is there a part of you that’s looking forward to going head to head with him on Sunday?

Bauer: “Yeah, definitely. I know [USA TODAY had a] piece today. But, I have no problem with Gerrit. We had a rocky relationship in college, because he told me that I had no future in baseball and he insulted my work ethic as a freshman. I don’t take kindly to those couple things, so we had our issues. And I have, I don’t know, those feelings have long since faded. Right now, it’s cool to see him having success. He’s done a lot of hard work. He’s changed his mechanics around. He’s changed his pitch repertoire and how he uses it and his attack plan and stuff like that, and he’s having a ton of success with it. And it’s good to see, because it’s good for him, it’s good for me, it’s good for the tapestry of our lives.

“Regardless of how each of us feels about anything, we’re intertwined forever. I don’t know if two teammates have been drafted as high out of college ever. I’m not sure if that’s a thing. I can’t imagine it would be, but we’re part of a historic team at UCLA. We’re part of a historic draft. We’re part of, hopefully, historic careers on both ends. I’d love nothing more than to trade Cy Youngs with him for the next 10 years, because it’s good for everybody involved. So, I’m happy for him.

“I’m happy that he seems to be healthy this year. I know he’s struggled with [injuries]. He spent some time on the DL with some lat stuff or triceps stuff, I think, at certain points. You never want to see someone be injured, so I’m happy he’s healthy and pitching well and it should be fun to match up against him. It’ll be kind of like old days, but not really.”

Q: And it’s not like it was only Cole who you have said made those types of comments to you when you were younger. People focus on Cole, because of the history there, but…

Bauer: “Yeah, we could talk about Mike Montgomery saying the same thing to me in high school and the fact that he struck me out or whatever. But, Mike and I have talked multiple times in pro ball. We’ve just happened to run across each other in the Minor Leagues and given that he’s been in the American League, we see each other a couple times and whatnot. So, no one really focuses on that. All the focus gets thrown onto Gerrit, because of our time at UCLA. I don’t think a lot of people even realize me and Mike were teammates in high school. But, I don’t have any problem with him, either of them. I think they do a great job as professionals. They work hard. They’ve had very good success so far and I wish both of them continued success.”

Q: Is it the kind of thing that doesn’t matter much to you anyway right now, because you can let your numbers do the talking?

Bauer: “It doesn’t matter to me if I had [bad] numbers. That’s not the issue. It takes way more energy to be upset and mad and hold a grudge at someone than it does just to live your own life. I don’t know. I probably live my own life too much. People have their opinions and whatever, which is fine. I get it. I completely, from an intellectual standpoint, I get it. I bring it on myself — things that I say. But, that’s just because I choose to speak my mind and be open and honest and stuff like that, and talk about things I’m passionate about. But, there’s no added anything, really.”

Q: Do you think the media makes more out of the situation that actually is there now?

Bauer: “I don’t want to speak for him. I talked to him at the alumni game this year and had a pleasant conversation about arbitration and what he was thinking for his number and my number and stuff like that. It was pleasant. I didn’t sense any animosity on either end. So, yeah, it’s a storyline. I get it. It’s fun to write about, because you can play up the controversy and you can get a headline to click on or whatever. I know Sports Illustrated tried to do that earlier this year and make out my talking about league-wide spin rate issues and foreign substance policy to be attacking him or because I’m overcome with jealousy. I know some of their players think I’m overcome with jealousy. Maybe I should take a picture of how green my face is right now and post that on social media. Apparently, I come off as a super jealous, angry young man.”

Q: You have noted that there have been a lot of people over the years — not just one individual — who have criticized your training or how you didn’t conform to traditional ways of doing things. How much are you driven to prove those people wrong?

Bauer: “I’m driven by personal achievement. It took me a long time to figure out what actually drove me, like what I don’t care about the money, why I don’t care about the attention or the fame or the whatever. I’d be perfectly happy to go live in a van and travel and go fly my drone for two straight years and have no one have any clue where I am. I would be perfectly fine to do that, but I’m driven by personal achievement. I want to be a billionaire, not because of the money, but just to say I did it. Like, look, I had this goal and I found a way to achieve it. It’s like, when I win my first Cy Young, it’s going to be a super proud moment for me. I went to UCLA to try to win the Golden Spikes Award and I did. That’s one of my proudest moments. I set this goal, I had to do all this work and find a way to get there and then I got there. That’s what drive mes — the personal achievement of it.

“And then, proving people wrong or right or whatever, as long as I get it right, I don’t really care if it was my idea or someone else’s idea. I’m about being successful and being the best that I can be. And, if someone can help me, I try to listen to all inputs, right? And, if it’s valuable and I can use it, then I use it. And, if it’s not, then I go on with whatever else I’m doing to try to get better. So, yeah, it was never about one individual. Or, my high school coach, there’s people like that. I don’t like my high school coach. I’ll never like him. I don’t feel like he treated me very fairly. I feel like he treated me like, he was intentionally, he attempted to be harmful and stuff like that. But, I’m not holding a grudge against him. It’s just not a person I choose to interact with or try to talk to or anything like that. He doesn’t hold any importance or significance in my life. He’s just part of my history.”

Q: You don’t want things like that taking up your mental real estate…

Bauer: “This game’s hard enough. I try to allocate what mental bandwidth I have to useful information like how I can get better and what I need to do emotionally to balance out the emotion of baseball. That’s why I started to travel. That’s why I started flying drones. That’s why I started photography and videography and stuff like that. It’s why I want to get into business. That stuff helps balance out my life in general. That’s what I’m concerned with. How do I help my close friends be more fulfilled and be better individuals and be more successful in life? How do I become the best baseball player I can be? How do I help my dad and my family and my sister? How do I move the industry forward as a whole with baseball, and help future teams and whatnot? Even though, apparently, when I do that it gets blown up into conspiracy theories or whatever the heck happened in Chicago. But, yeah, that’s what I’m concerned with. That’s what I care about. The other stuff is just noise.”

— JB