SF Giants have already found the 2 players to replace Harrison Bader next season

When the SF Giants inked Harrison Bader to a two-year, $20.5 million deal prior to this season, they did it with the thinking that he would probably be their primary center fielder for 2026 and 2027. Oh, how things can change.

While it was fair to assume he’d spend some time on the IL because he’s typically been banged up throughout his career, they probably didn’t envision him hitting .170/.198/.358 over the course of 30 games before crashing his scooter into a fire engine and effectively ending his Giants career.

Yet, baseball is all about backup plans and the next man up. Thankfully, the Giants seem to have found two guys who should be able to replicate the production of what they were expecting from Bader going forward.

Drew Gilbert has been quite a solid player this year. He has seemed like a fourth outfielder type of player but with the way he’s been mashing the ball lately he looks like a guy who belongs in the lineup on a daily basis…against righties that is.

This year Gilbert is hitting .275/.359/.449 with eight home runs and 35 runs batted in against right-handed pitchers. He has just two hits in 41 at-bats against lefties. Unless he hits lefties, he’s going to be a platoon player at best but thankfully it seems like the Giants have the perfect platoon partner.

Giants should go with a platoon to replace Harrison Bader next season

Jonah Cox looked like he wasn’t quite ready for big league pitching for a while, but as of late he’s looked a lot better. He’s hitting .278/.304/.537 on the year with three home runs, seven runs batted in, and five stolen bases in six attempts. His speed might just be his greatest asset.

He does have an alarming 28 strikeouts compared to just two walks in 59 plate appearances. He’s actually hit righties better than lefties but two of his three homers have come against southpaws.

Both Gilbert and Cox play above-average defense so they can handle center field. Combine them in a platoon and the front office would probably get roughly what it was expect to get out of Bader. Heck, even if you combined their faces they may look somewhat similar to Bader. Might be a fun experiment. 

The free agent options for center field are not all that exciting so the Giants may be best served by trying to void the rest of Bader’s contract and then just go into 2027 with Gilbert and Cox forming a platoon out in center field. It's time to start playing the young guys not just at the end of the season, but at the start too.

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