While the Phillies scramble to find an outfield bat to bolster their struggling lineup at the trade deadline, one familiar name - Giants outfielder Harrison Bader - is out of the running to fulfill that role. Bader's season is over due to a drunken night involving a scooter, an ambulance, and a crushed foot, in stark contrast to the spark he provided the City of Brotherly Love last season.
Harrison Bader endeared himself to Phillies fans last season after being traded from the Minnesota Twins and batting .305 with five home runs and 16 RBI in 50 games. Many fans wanted the Phillies to re-sign Bader, but he ultimately chose to sign with the San Francisco Giants on a two-year, $20.5 million deal.
Bader was already struggling early on in his tenure with the Giants, plagued by multiple injuries and hitting .170 with five home runs and 14 RBI in 30 games. Now, as more details roll in surrounding the circumstances of Bader's latest injury, he finds himself in hot water.
Phillies fan favorite Harrison Bader didn't tell the whole truth about his accident with Giants
Last Sunday, it was reported that Bader had suffered injuries in a scooter accident while rehabbing from plantar fasciitis. However, that was only part of the story. SFist reported a witness saw Bader’s scooter collide with the back of a San Francisco Fire Department truck near the Balboa Cafe. The wheel of the truck then “rolled over his foot, causing major injury.”
Matt Lively of KPIX in San Francisco then reported multiple witnesses spotting Bader drinking at multiple bars in the San Francisco area in the hours before the accident.
According to Andrew Baggerly of The Athletic, Bader was examined by the Giants' orthopedist, Dr. Ken Akizuki, and underwent an MRI; the team then went quiet on the results of the MRI because Bader initially refused to cooperate fully with an investigation into the incident.
The Giants eventually gathered all of the information needed, leading to Bader's pay being suspended for the rest of the season. In a statement, Giants President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey announced that Bader's pay would be suspended until he was able to return to baseball activities, which, given the nature of his injury, effectively suspended Bader's pay for the rest of the season.
Harrison Bader had a previous “scooter incident,“ too
Back in 2014 as a sophomore playing for the University of Florida Gators, Bader had his first scooter accident. In this incident, Bader drunkenly crashed his scooter into a parked truck and was found unconscious. Subsequently, Bader was suspended from the final 19 games of the season.
The Phillies outfield has struggled to stabilize itself in Bader’s departure. Still, between his inability to hit, stay healthy, or be transparent with his team this year, the Phillies may have dodged a bullet, or perhaps a truck, not re-signing him.
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