The Mets took a chance on Harrison Bader to improve their outfield defense following multiple injury-plagued seasons in The Bronx and elsewhere.
The former Gold Glove winner largely has stayed healthy and provided plenty of pop, as well, ripping two of the Mets’ five homers in Friday night’s 7-6 win over the Rockies at Citi Field.
Perhaps most important, the Bronxville native has played in 82 of 93 games this season after totaling 184 appearances in 2022 and 2023 combined, including 84 for the Yanks before he was claimed off waivers by the Reds on Aug. 31 last summer.
“I think I’ve been around long enough to just kind of have confidence in the plan of attack when I’m up there,” Bader said. “Last year I was hurt, we all know that. The main focus is just keeping my body in a good spot to just be healthy and to be available and to go out there and execute my plan.”
The highlight of Bader’s tenure in The Bronx was belting five home runs in nine postseason games in 2022.
He has gone deep as many as 16 times in one season — for St. Louis in 2021 — and his two solo blasts Friday night put him halfway to that total this year.
Mark Vientos and Jose Iglesias already had gone deep in the second inning when Bader clocked the Mets’ third solo shot in a four-batter span off Rockies righty Tanner Gordon.
It marked his first home run since June 26 against the Yankees.
Bader drove another Gordon offering over the left-field wall in the fourth, a two-run shot to extend the Mets’ lead to 6-2.
It was the second multi-homer game of Bader’s eight-year MLB career — and his first since Sept. 15, 2019 for the Cardinals against the Brewers.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, who coached Bader with the Yankees, said the biggest difference he’s seen is the outfielder’s splits against right-handed pitching.
Bader entered the season batting .244 in his career versus righties, but that number has risen to .312 this season.
“I’ve been playing this game long enough to understand what they’re trying to do to me in different situations,” said Bader, who will be a free agent again this offseason after his one-year, $10.5 million deal expires. “You’re not going to be successful every time, by any means, but you can go up there confidently to execute your plan.
“So I think just being healthy this year, sticking with my training staff and just being confident in what I’m trying to do, I think, has allowed me to open that up a little bit.”