Harrison Bader brings ‘energy,’ ‘excitement,’ and clutch hitting to the bottom of the Phillies’ order

MILWAUKEE — Harrison Bader does not have as flashy an entrance as closer Jhoan Duran each time he walks up to the plate.

But even without tarantulas and flames, Dave Dombrowski’s other 2025 trade-deadline acquisition has brought a similar jolt of energy to the Phillies. In the 26 games since Bader arrived in Philadelphia after a trade with the Twins, he has a .313 batting average and .872 OPS to go with elite defense in center field.

“I love him,” said manager Rob Thomson. “I love him. He’s performing. ... He’s a very confident person, but he’s a good person. It’s not phony, or fake, or anything like that.”

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Most significant of all for a team that has the aspirations the Phillies do, Bader has consistently proved he can come through in clutch situations. In fact, his numbers are better when the pressure is at its highest. Bader’s season OPS is a solid .799. But in situations with two outs and runners in scoring position, it becomes an elite .918.

And in “late and close” game situations — defined by Baseball Reference as plate appearances with his team tied, ahead by one, or with the tying run at least on deck in the seventh inning onward — Bader’s OPS is .905.

That makes him a powerful weapon in the bottom half of a lineup, which is something the Brewers saw firsthand on Monday. In the Phillies’ 10-8 Labor Day win over Milwaukee, Bader came through three times with a pair of RBI doubles in the sixth and eighth innings, plus a single in the ninth that drove in a crucial insurance run.

“It’s really easy to get caught up in the emotion of trying to fit into a clubhouse and living up to all these expectations you might have in your head,” Bader said. “But I think just relaxing and letting the game speak for itself, to try to help a team win after nine innings, I think kind of eliminates all of that. So I’m just running with that feeling and trying to put up for my new club.”

With Bader hitting sixth in the order behind Brandon Marsh, the two outfielders combined for half of the Phillies’ 14 total hits on Monday.

“It feels great, obviously, from a result standpoint,” Bader said. “But I’m really honestly more proud of the preparation behind the scenes and keeping my body healthy and getting my rest, and going out there and trusting my information and whatnot. ...

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“There’s a lot of variables involved with getting traded to a club. I think you just think about what you have to do every day to help that team win. It eliminates all the things that might be distracting, and just go out there and good things happen when you’re focused on the plan.”

Beyond his performance on the field, Bader’s teammates have pointed to the intangibles that he brings to the lineup and clubhouse: “Excitement,” as Taijuan Walker put it, or “energy,” according to Marsh.

Bader said he makes an intentional effort to embody those attributes.

“I think the energy aspect is really important,” he said. “Just bring it every day, regardless of where you’re at, because stuff’s going to get hairy down the line. So being really good at training yourself to be high energy and high support for your teammates every single day, I think it’s a good practice.”

Monday’s back-and-forth series opener in Milwaukee had the intensity of a playoff game. Since being swept in Queens, the Phillies have built back a comfortable six-game lead over the Mets for the division. But also in their sights now is a first-round bye, or even the top seed in the National League.

The Brewers’ 85-54 record is still the best in the majors, but things could change quickly. Two more Phillies wins in Wisconsin would put a significant dent in Milwaukee’s 4½-game lead for the No. 1 seed.

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And if Bader keeps playing the way he has been, he could be key to making that happen.

“He’s been huge for this club,” Marsh said, “and he’s going to continue to be big for us.”