SF Giants Player Review 2026: Harrison Bader hit a fire truck, but not the baseball

When the SF Giants signed Harrison Bader to a two-year, $20.5 million deal last offseason, it seemed like a reasonable move. Sure, there was a risk that Bader’s injury history would mean he’d miss some time or that he’d be unable to match his offensive output from 2025. 

Yet, it seemed worth the risk to land a good defensive center fielder, something the Giants hadn’t had in a while. The Giants couldn’t have known how bad a deal it would end up being, though.

Bader hit .170/.198/.358 on the season with five home runs and 14 runs batted in across 30 games. To be fair, Bader was dealing with a hamstring issue early in the season which probably impacted his production and his foot issue, plantar fasciitis, also probably played a role in his poor offensive numbers.

Then came the scooter incident. Bader was reportedly riding his scooter through San Francisco’s Marina district in the wee hours of the morning in July when he collided with a fire truck, possibly the hardest contact he made all year, and injured his foot further which eventually led to the Giants putting him on the restricted list and suspending his pay the rest of the season.

Bader’s future with the Giants is unclear although San Francisco surely wants his contract voided. Buster Posey has had to say that Bader is still in the picture probably for legal reasons, but with Jonah Cox and Drew Gilbert both playing well in center they should probably be the team’s options out there next season.

Bader made sense on paper for Giants, but not in practice

It’s really a shame that Bader’s tenure in San Francisco went the way it did because he made so much sense for the Giants. They needed center field defense and signing him allowed San Francisco to move Jung Hoo Lee to right field.

In many ways Bader is the perfect metaphor for San Francisco’s 2026 season. He made some sense on paper even though there was risk involved, he performed worse than expected, got injured, and ultimately embarrassed himself in public fashion.

The Giants just have to feel lucky that they have some internal options at center otherwise they might have been forced to roll the dice again on Bader. Now he faced an uncertain future and will probably be with another team in 2027 assuming one is willing to take a chance on him after 2026.

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