Entering play on Saturday, two players sit tied atop MLB’s home run leaderboard. The first, unsurprisingly, is two-time MVP and seven-time all-star Bryce Harper. The second: Yankees center fielder Harrison Bader. His stellar performance, coupled with his high-energy playing style and New York roots has led him to quickly become one of the most popular players on the team. But how did he get here?
Bader grew up in Bronxville, New York and spent his high school days terrorizing the Ivy Prepertory League (yes, that includes Fieldston) as a member of the Horace Mann baseball team. During his senior season, Bader hit for a whopping .500 batting average and stole 21 bases before going on to play college baseball at the University of Florida.
After being drafted in the third round to the Cardinals in 2015, Bader burst onto the scene as one of the league’s best young stars before being traded to the Yankees during this year’s trade deadline. Coming in, Bader was expected to provide his usual elite baserunning and defense that he had come to be known for. This year, both his sprint speed and outs above average (a metric used to measure a players defense) have registered in the 93rd percentile among all major-leaguers, while his hitting has checked in at 13% below league average. His playoff performance, however, tells a different story.
In this year’s playoffs, Bader has led the Yankees in on-base percentage (.393), slugging percentage (.783), home runs (4) and is second in batting average (.261) all while providing his usual all-world defense and base running. There is no debate: Harrison Bader has been the Yankees’ best position player in the playoffs (even better than the beloved Aaron Judge). His success has also quickly led him to become a fan favorite: “I didn’t know who he was before the playoffs, but now I love him”, said one 11th grader. And in the state that the Yankees offense has been in as of late, it sure looks like they could use a few more Harrison Baders.
Written on October 23, 2022
