Giants suspend payment on Bader's salary following scooter crash

SAN DIEGO -- President of baseball operations Buster Posey announced Friday that the Giants will be suspending payment of Harrison Bader’s salary while they look into the circumstances of a scooter crash that further damaged the 32-year-old outfielder’s injured left foot on Sunday.

“Over the weekend, Harrison Bader was involved in an accident that has delayed Harrison's prior treatment timeline for plantar fasciitis and, unfortunately, his return to the field,” Posey said in a statement that was released by the team. “We are still investigating the circumstances of the accident but will be suspending payment to Harrison until he is able to resume performing services for the Club.”

Bader hasn’t played since May 29 due to plantar fasciitis in his left foot, but he aggravated the injury after he was involved in a scooter accident in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

SFist reported that the crash occurred around 2 a.m. near Balboa Cafe at Greenwich and Fillmore streets in San Francisco. A witness told the publication that Bader’s scooter collided with the back of a San Francisco Fire Department fire engine, “the wheel of which then rolled over his foot, causing major injury.”

A SFFD public information officer confirmed details of the incident in a statement to MLB.com, though Bader wasn’t specifically named as the person involved in the crash, which is being investigated by the San Francisco Police Department:

“On July 26, at approximately 1:53 a.m., the San Francisco Fire Department responded to a motor vehicle collision in the area of the 2200 block of Greenwich Street in the Cow Hollow District. One patient was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.”

Giants manager Tony Vitello deflected when asked about the reported details of Bader’s crash on Friday.

“I don’t know the exact accuracy of it,” Vitello said. “I just know there’s something going on with his foot. I’ve seen pictures. The two times he was at the stadium were during the course of the game. All I’ve seen is pictures. Nothing up close and personal.”

Bader signed a two-year, $20.5 million deal with the Giants in January, but he’s been limited to only 30 games due to injury, batting .170 with a .557 OPS and five home runs this year.

Bader was scheduled to fly to Indianapolis to see a foot and ankle specialist the day after his crash, but the meeting was complicated by the scooter incident, which “changed the nature of the evaluation,” per the Giants. Bader returned to San Francisco on Monday and was due to undergo an MRI exam on Tuesday, though the Giants haven’t released any new details about the results of the imaging.

The Giants haven’t definitively said that Bader will miss the rest of the season, but Vitello suggested Thursday that a 2026 return would have been a “long shot” for the 10-year MLB veteran, even before the scooter accident.

Bader has a history of scooter incidents, as he was also suspended for 19 games during his sophomore season at the University of Florida following another late-night crash in Gainesville, Fla., in 2014.