Appeal hearing for suspended Dodgers pitcher Bauer set to begin May 23: report

Trevor Bauer's arbitration appeal of his unprecedented two-year suspension under Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy has been scheduled to start May 23, a person familiar with the hearing told The Associated Press.

The person spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because the date was not announced.

The appeal will be heard by a three-person panel chaired by independent arbitrator Martin Scheinman. It will include one representative each from MLB and the players' association.

Bauer was suspended by commissioner Rob Manfred on April 29, a penalty that if unchanged will cost the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher just over $60 million US of his three-year, $102-million contract. Bauer immediately said he would challenge it.

A San Diego woman, whom the pitcher had met through social media, has alleged Bauer beat and sexually abused her last year. She later sought but was denied a restraining order. Los Angeles prosecutors said in February there was insufficient evidence to prove the woman's accusations beyond a reasonable doubt.

Bauer, who hasn't played since the allegations surfaced last summer and MLB began investigating, repeatedly has said everything that happened between the two was consensual.

Bauer also has sued the woman in federal court, a move that came less than three months after prosecutors decided not to file criminal charges against him.

The lawsuit said "the damage to Mr. Bauer has been extreme" after the woman alleged that he choked her into unconsciousness, punched her repeatedly and had anal sex with her without her consent during two sexual encounters last year.

The pitcher has said the two engaged in rough sex at his Pasadena home at her suggestion and followed guidelines they agreed to in