Harrison Bader spent last season dealing with all kinds of injuries, but the frustration level didn’t reach a crescendo until after playing his final game.
The former Gold Glove outfielder, who spent most of the season with the Yankees before he was picked up on waivers by the Reds, underwent sports hernia surgery on Sept. 28.
A moment of reckoning had arrived.
“The feeling I had simply walking around my apartment, getting into cabs, walking down subway steps, that feeling is something I never want to have again,” the new Mets acquisition said Wednesday on an introductory Zoom call. “You take extreme ownership of everything. These little injuries we experience and I play a very physical position, it happened for a reason and clearly something was off.”
The 29-year-old Bronxville native is placing an emphasis on conditioning as he begins his one-year contract with the Mets worth $10.5 million.
Last season’s list of injuries included oblique, hamstring, rib and groin issues that limited Bader to 98 games.
Bader also battled plantar fasciitis that limited him to 86 games with the Cardinals and Yankees in 2022.
“I’m in Tampa fully with the right people with a lot of research behind [the conditioning] and I feel extremely confident with the people I’m with,” Bader said. “It’s something that maybe I wish I had earlier, but I am not going to spend any time trying to turn the clocks back, because it’s not possible.”
Bader, an elite defender, will play center field on a regular basis, moving Brandon Nimmo to left field.
But president of baseball operations David Stearns said it’s still to be determined whether Nimmo will exclusively play left field or still receive playing time in center.
The Mets also added Tyrone Taylor in a trade with the Brewers this offseason as somebody who can play center when needed.
“I think Brandon is of the mind that he wants to do what is best for the team and if it means at times flipping back to center field he’s open to it,” Stearns said. “If it means playing more predominantly left field he’s open to that too. We’ll kind of see how the roster shakes out whether there are opportunities for Brandon to shift over to center or whether it makes sense for him to pretty much stay in left.We’ll continue that discussion through spring training.”
Bader’s playing time will be partly based on matchups, according to Stearns, but the expectation is Bader will receive “plenty” of action in center field.
Bader’s physical issues the last two seasons may have played a significant role in his offensive struggles.
Last season he dipped to a .232/.274/.378 slash line with seven homers and 40 RBIs in 344 plate appearances.
He will be reunited with former college teammate Pete Alonso, who was a year behind Bader at Florida.
“Great energy, great presence, great big polar bear presence, if you will,” Bader said of his former Gators teammate. “You fast-forward and what he has done in this league is extremely impressive, but it’s not by accident by any means. I know the way he talks about his craft. I know the way he works. I know how he thinks about what a pitcher is trying to do to him. All those things paired together and you produce extremely positive results like he has seen so far in his career.”
Bader isn’t the only former Yankees player the Mets are counting on for the coming season.
Luis Severino, who signed a one-year contract worth $13 million with the team before the winter meetings, is also trying to stay healthy after a disappointing 2023 season in which he pitched to a 6.65 ERA in 19 appearances.
Severino, who dealt with lat injuries last season, said he’s consulted a sleep doctor, among others.
“I have been a bad sleeper my whole life,” Severino said. “We are finding ways to get better.”