Former Gator Harrison Bader Talks About Promotion To Cardinals

In an interview with Steve Russell on ESPN Gainesville’s Sportscene program today, former Gator baseball star Harrison Bader talked about his recent promotion to the big leagues with the St.Louis Cardinals.  Bader played for the Gators from 2013-2015 and enjoyed a very successful career, especially in his last year where he batted .297 with 76 hits and 17 home runs and was named to the All-Tournament Team in the 2015 College World Series.

Bader Gets The Call

Bader got called up on Tuesday morning and so far, he has delivered. The former Gator has gone 4-for-8 with a couple of doubles. He is expected to move up a couple spots to fifth in the Cardinal batting order tonight.

“It’s just a matter of putting the ball in play,” Bader said in regards to his success with the Cardinals so far.

Before getting promoted, Bader played for the Memphis Redbirds of Class AAA, where he batted .297 with 19 home runs and 48 runs batted in. Bader has been a very productive hitter in his professional career so far, batting .287 with 50 doubles. While Bader did say he did not know if he would get a promotion before the year ended, he did say he figured a call would happen eventually in his career.

https://twitter.com/GatorsBB/status/889934440276918272

Bader reflects on his time in Memphis

During the interview, Bader took time to acknowledge the loyalty of the Memphis Redbirds fan base.

“I’ve heard that the fans in Memphis really support that franchise. Is that true?” Russell asked.

“Yeah, absolutely,” Bader acknowledged. “They’ve done a really good job when I was there last year.”

Cardinals Hope To Improve

Last year, the Cardinals missed the playoffs for the first time since 2010. They’re in danger of missing the postseason again. As of right now, they are 50-51 and seven games back in the wild card standings but still a factor in the NL Central race. They have played better as of late, winning their last three games against a very good Colorado Rockies team by a combined 21-9 margin. They will look to extend their winning streak tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team that they’re 2-1 against so far this season.

And Harrison Bader will look to keep his hot hitting going while having his dream of playing pro baseball now a reality.