Arizona’s Trevor Bauer, former Bruin, confident despite rocky starts

PHOENIX — 

— Two starts into his major league career, former UCLA pitcher Trevor Bauer is 0-1 with a 9.82 earned-run average for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

But the results haven’t diminished the self-assurance projected by the 21-year-old graduate of Newhall Hart High, who faces the Dodgers for the first time on Sunday at Chase Field.

“Why?” Bauer asked. “Because I had a bad outing? I know when I execute my pitches and I execute my game plan, I’ll be effective no matter who I’m facing. I didn’t execute last time. That’s what happens. You don’t execute, you get beat. No reason to panic.”

Bauer continued defend his unconventional methods. But instead of defending his unusual training or warmup methods — he throws from foul pole to foul pole before starts — he now found himself defending something far more fundamental.

The way he approaches hitters.

The subject came into sharper focus after his last start, when he was pounded for seven runs (six earned) and six hits in 31/3 innings by the weak-hitting San Diego Padres. In that start, Bauer repeatedly shook off catcher Miguel Montero.

Bauer insisted he wouldn’t change and said Montero had to adjust to him, rather than the other way around.

“The game I throw when I’m most effective is drastically different than how most people throw,” Bauer said. “I throw completely different in the sense that I don’t try to throw to hitter’s weaknesses. I throw to my strengths. My approach is really hitter-independent. It doesn’t matter who’s at the plate.”

For one, he likes to throw fastballs high in the strike zone. Asked if he felt he could be as effective doing that facing major league hitters, he replied, “When I’m executing, throwing balls at the top of the zone, I’ve never been hit consistently. Yeah, sometimes people will guess and hit a ball out.”

That’s what he said happened against the Padres, when Yonder Alonso took him deep.

“That’s not going to happen on a consistent basis,” Bauer said.

Even though he grew up in Southern California and visited Dodger Stadium about once a year, Bauer said he wasn’t a Dodgers fan. Rather, he was a fan of the Atlanta Braves.

“I was a fan of pitching staffs,” he said, pointing to the Braves staffs that included Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.

Short hops

Mark Ellis was out of the lineup, as Manager Don Mattingly didn’t want to him to start four consecutive days so soon after his return from the disabled list. Ellis was activated on Wednesday.... Utilityman Justin Sellers, who has been sidelined since late May with back problems, resumed baseball activities at the Dodgers spring training facility in Phoenix. He is expected to remain there until he is ready to start a minor league rehabilitation assignment.... First-round pick Corey Seager made his professional debut for rookie-advanced Ogden and was one for three with a walk and a run.... Double-A right-hander Chris Reed will represent the Dodgers at theAll-Star Futures Game in Kansas City on Sunday.