The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have placed outfielder Dexter Fowler on the 10-day disabled list with a left wrist strain and have purchased the contract of rookie outfielder Harrison Bader (BAY-der) from Memphis (AAA). Bader will become the sixth Cardinal to make his Major League debut this season.
Fowler, 31, was removed from last night’s game in the top of the 8th inning following his fourth plate appearance in the game. The switch-hitting outfielder is batting .241 with 14 home runs and 37 RBI in 81 games.
Bader, 23, was the Cardinals third round draft pick (100th overall) out of the University of Florida in the June, 2015 First-Year Player Draft. The outfielder played on the Gators College World Series team in June 2015 and made his triple-A debut in Memphis on July 6, 2016. Entering the 2017 season, Bader was rated as the No. 7 prospect in the Cardinals system by Baseball America.
In 289 career minor league games, Bader has batted .287 with 49 home runs and 138 RBI, hitting 50 doubles, eight triples and stealing 39 bases in 64 attempts.
The right-handed hitting Bader began the season as a non-roster invite to Major League Spring Training and was assigned to Memphis. He was batting .297 with 19 home runs and 48 RBI in 97 games with the triple-A Redbirds and ranks T10th in the Pacific Coast League in home runs.
In 2016, Bader was named to the Arizona Fall League All-Prospect Team, AFL Rising Stars Game, was a Texas League (AA) All-Star and Cardinals Minor League Player of the Month for April.
The Cardinals also announced today that Memphis outfielder Chad Huffman was outrighted and subsequently granted his unconditional release.
Bader has been assigned uniform No. 48.
