Athlete of the Month for May 2024

Bio

Harrison Bader is an American baseball player born in Bronxville, New York, a village in Eastchester, to a Jewish father and an Italian mother. Bader got his start in sports at five years old where he practiced batting with his father before joining Eastchester Little League as a shortstop.

After high school, Bader went to play for the Gators at the University of Florida. During his time there Bader became the 11th player in its history to accrue over 20 home runs, over 100 RBIs, and over 30 steals. In 2015 Bader was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the third round of the Major League Baseball draft and professionally debuted with the minor league State College Spikes. Shortly after that, he was promoted to the Peoria Chiefs. In 2016, Bader played with the Springfield Cardinals he was named a Texas League mid-season All-Star.

Bader began his time with the Cardinals in 2017 and by 2018 was ranked sixth in the voting for NL Rookie of the Year. Before leaving the Cardinals for the Yankees in 2022, Bader became the fifth Cardinal to win the Gold Glove Award for center field in 2021. Bader began his brief play in the New York Yankees in 2022 where he became the fourth Yankee to hit at least five home runs in a single postseason. Unfortunately, Bader missed a significant portion of the 2023 season due to a muscle injury and was put on waivers.

Near the end of Summer 2023, the Cincinnati Reds claimed Bader and put him where he played 12 games. By the time the year was over Bader was a free agent and signed a one-year contract with the New York Mets. for a center field position. Overall, Bader has a batting average of .244 and has accrued over 59 home runs.

Highlights

Past Picks of the Month

Josh Allen

Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Juan Sato

Shohei Ohtani

Luis Gil

Harrison Bader

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