The San Francisco Giants’ outfield took another hit this week, and this one ends Harrison Bader’s season.
Manager Tony Vitello said Bader will miss the rest of the 2026 campaign after a scooter accident complicated an already nagging foot issue. Bader had been sidelined since May 29 with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, and he was supposed to meet with a foot specialist in Indianapolis earlier this week to get a better read on the injury. Instead, the scooter crash changed the course of that evaluation and led doctors to do more testing.
The Giants first revealed on Tuesday that Bader had been involved in a scooter accident late Saturday night or early Sunday morning. The club said the incident worsened his foot problem and altered the medical plan, with an MRI later scheduled to check the damage.
More details surfaced after that. Per Yahoo Sports, statements from the San Francisco Fire Department and the San Francisco Police Department said a traffic collision involving a scooter happened around 2 a.m.
Sunday in San Francisco’s Marina District. The rider sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital.
Reports also said the accident happened near the Balboa Cafe after the scooter struck a fire engine.
Vitello made clear the crash didn’t change the bigger picture. Bader was already headed toward a season-ending result because of the foot injury that had kept him out for more than two months.
His season had already been interrupted before that. Earlier in the year, Bader missed about a month with a hamstring injury, and between the two setbacks he appeared in just 30 games in his first season with San Francisco after signing a two-year, $20.5 million free-agent deal in the offseason.
When he was on the field, the numbers never really caught up. Bader hit .170 with a .198 on-base percentage and a .358 slugging percentage in 106 at-bats. He added five home runs, 14 RBIs and no stolen bases, and his 54 OPS+ was the lowest mark of his Major League career.
The bat never got going, but the glove still mattered. Bader has long been known as a strong defensive center fielder, and the former Gold Glove winner continued to provide that kind of value when healthy.
Now the Giants are left to finish the season without one of their veteran outfielders. With the team already out of playoff contention and nearing the MLB trade deadline, Bader’s absence only sharpens the focus on what comes next and leaves San Francisco with one less experienced option as it looks ahead.
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