Harrison

Bader

It turns out Bader isn’t sitting tonight in favor of Drew Gilbert, even if that might have been deserved. He’ll serve his second IL stint of the season after hitting .170/.198/.358 in 30 games to start his Giants career. It’ll likely be Gilbert in center against righties and Victor Bericoto in right against lefties, with Jung Hoo Lee sliding over, while Bader is out.

How many grand slams does a guy have to hit in order to start regularly? Alas, Bader is batting just .170/.198/.358 overall. Now that Jung Hoo Lee is back, Bader could lose significant time against righties to Drew Gilbert. Of course, Gilbert is only hitting .194/.254/.274 this month, but he does have the platoon advantage (and the his-college-manager-loves-him advantage). Bader has a .482 OPS against righties and an .837 OPS versus lefties.

Bader broke the game open for the Giants, extending the team’s lead with a grand slam off Jordan Leasure in the fifth inning on a 105.8 mph, 425-foot blast to center field. Three pitches prior to that, he had a popup down the third base line that Miguel Vargas lost in the sun, resulting in a foul ball. The grand slam was his second in the last week and fifth home run of the season while slashing .178/.211/.389 with ten runs scored and 13 RBI across 95 plate appearances.

This one was close until an eight-run eighth inning for the Giants. Bader’s slam, which left his bat at 93.9 mph, was aided by a 20-30 mph wind blowing out to right field. However, that was just the ultimate makeup call. As MLB.com’s Sarah Langs pointed out, Bader lost a grand slam to the wind Saturday on a fifth-inning fly to center. Today’s slam was his second in 75 career plate appearances with the bases loaded.

Bader returns to San Francisco’s struggling lineup for Monday’s critical series opener against the division-rival Giants following a nearly one-month absence. The 31-year-old veteran hit the injured list with a hamstring strain back on April 15. He was hitting .115 (6-for-52) with one homer in 15 games prior to landing on the shelf.

Bader has been battling some hamstring soreness since spring training and was removed from the lineup earlier this week. It seems like the Giants are going to give the veteran a chance to fully shut down and make sure his hamstring is healed before getting back on the field.

Bader has been dealing with an ongoing hamstring issue since the late stages of spring training. The 31-year-old outfielder is on the bench for Tuesday’s game against the Reds. It sounds like he’ll avoid a trip to the injured list for now.

Bader and Lee are the notable regulars taking a seat with Jared Oliva getting a chance in center field and Jerar Encarnacion heading out to right field in this one.

Bader gave the Giants a 1-0 lead with a solo homer off an ineffective Walker Buehler. It’s the first homer of the season for Bader, and the first as a member of the Giants. The 31-year-old scuffled in the series against the Yankees, but so did every member of the San Francisco lineup. He’ll have a chance to be a useful bench option in the majority of fantasy formats.

San Francisco kicks off a new era under first-year skipper Tony Vitello — the first collegiate coach to jump directly to the majors with no previous big-league experience — with Ramos becoming the first Giants player to make consecutive Opening Days starts in left field since Barry Bonds in 2007. The other notable fantasy development is free agent acquisition Luis Arraez in the leadoff spot. Here’s the full lineup set to face Yankees ace Max Fried in primetime on at Oracle Park: Arraez (2B), Matt Chapman (3B), Rafael Devers (DH), Willy Adames (SS), Jung Hoo Lee (RF), Ramos (LF), Casey Schmitt (1B), Patrick Bailey (C) and Harrison Bader (CF).