Harrison Bader

Bader led the Gators with a .312 batting average in 221 at-bats as a freshman, with 15 stolen bases (10th in the Southeastern Conference), and was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team.

He again led the team, with a .337 average (sixth in the Conference) in 169 at-bats with a .421 on-base percentage (sixth) as a sophomore, and was named All-SEC Second Team.

He is also a first cousin once removed of actor Scott Baio, who played Chachi Arcola on Happy Days and Charles on the 1980s television program Charles in Charge.

He started in baseball with his father throwing batting practice to him when Bader was five years old.

He played shortstop in the Eastchester Little League as a youth, with his father continuing to throw him batting practice every evening.

Bader grew up a fan of the New York Yankees.

Bader attended the Horace Mann School in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City, and played as a center fielder for the school's baseball team.

As a senior, he batted .500 with a .783 slugging percentage.

Harrison Joseph Bader (born June 3, 1994) is an American professional baseball center fielder for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB).

He has previously played in MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, and Cincinnati Reds.

Born and raised in Bronxville, New York, Bader played college baseball at the University of Florida.

The Cardinals promoted Bader to the Peoria Chiefs of the Class A Midwest League (MWL) in July, and for the season with Peoria he was 10th in the League with nine home runs and eighth with a .505 slugging percentage, in 206 at-bats.

He was the MWL Player of the Week for August 24–30 after batting .448 in seven games with two home runs, six RBIs, one double, and two triples.

In 235 at-bats and 61 total games between State College and Peoria, he batted .311/.368/.523 with 13 doubles, 11 home runs, 32 RBIs, and 17 stolen bases.

In October 2011, Bader committed to the University of Pittsburgh to play for the Panthers baseball team.

However, he had not signed a National Letter of Intent.

In his three seasons with the school, Bader became the 11th player in school history to record over 20 home runs, over 100 RBIs, and over 30 steals over his career.

He was named first-team all-region, first-team all-state, first-team all-city, and to the 2012 Rawlings Northeast All-Region First Team.

While attending high school, Bader also played for the New York Grays, a travel baseball team.

He decommitted from Pittsburgh in May 2012, and committed to the University of Maryland to play for the Terrapins.

However, Maryland did not offer him a scholarship.

In July, he therefore decommitted from Maryland, and committed to the University of Florida to play for the Gators, inasmuch as Florida in contrast offered him a partial scholarship.

In 2014, his sophomore year, Bader was suspended for 19 games after a scooter accident that occurred while he was driving under the influence of alcohol.

After the 2014 season, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Bourne Braves of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

The Cardinals selected him in the third round of the 2015 MLB draft, and he made his MLB debut with them in 2017.

Bader was their starting center fielder for parts of five seasons, and won a Gold Glove Award in 2021.

The Cardinals traded Bader to the Yankees in 2022.

The Reds claimed Bader off of waivers in 2023.

Bader was born in the village of Bronxville, New York, in the town of Eastchester.

Bader identifies as Jewish; his father Louis Bader is Jewish, and his mother Janice is of Italian (Sicilian) descent and Catholic.

Both of his parents are originally from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

His father is the lead counsel for Verizon in New York.

He has a younger sister, Sasha.

As a junior in 2015, he batted .297/.393/.566 (10th in the Conference) in 256 at-bats with 17 home runs (third), 66 RBIs (third), and 10 hit by pitch (eighth) in 67 games.

Bader was named to the All-Tournament Team in the 2015 College World Series after he batted .348 in five games.

He was named a second-team All-American by Perfect Game, and a third-team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).

In the 2015 Major League Baseball draft, the St. Louis Cardinals selected Bader in the third round, with the 100th overall selection.

He signed with the Cardinals, receiving a $400,000 signing bonus, and made his professional debut with the State College Spikes of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League, hitting two home runs in his first game.

He was named an MiLB 2015 Organization All Star.

Bader began the 2016 season with the Springfield Cardinals of the Class AA Texas League, with whom his .497 slugging percentage was 9th-highest in the league and his 10 hit by pitch, in 318 at-bats, was second in the league.