PHOENIX — Harrison Bader put a figurative dent into a baseball. Then, he put a actual dent into a food truck.
In the fourth inning of the Giants’ 13-12 loss to the Brewers on Wednesday afternoon, Milwaukee’s Garrett Stallings tried to punch out Bader with a 1-2 slider. Stallings hung the breaking ball and Bader wasn’t fooled, hammering the pitch with a perfect swing. The sound of bat meeting ball reverberated throughout American Family Fields of Phoenix, a 113.8 mph line drive that cleared the left-field fence in seconds.
And smashed right into the top of Monica Godfrey’s food truck.
“I was talking to a lady,” Godfrey recalled. “She ordered, and I took it out to her because she didn’t come for her name. Then, all of a sudden, I hear, ‘Ahhh.’ And I knew it was coming this way because people were ducking. I look, and it was like, ‘Bam!’”
Wednesday, funny enough, was the first day that Godfrey’s truck resided in that specific location during Cactus League play. Godfrey, whose kids played baseball and softball, wondered what would happen if her business got hit by a home run. Thanks to Bader, whose homer was the hardest-hit ball by a Giant this spring, Godfrey didn’t have to ponder.
Once Bader finished up his day, he walked over to the truck in the middle of the game and signed his name next to the dent with a black permanent marker. Alongside his name, Bader wrote, “Sorry.” Godfrey, wearing an ear-to-ear smile, didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.
Godfrey said she knew of Bader before his homer, but added that “now I definitely know him.” Godfrey began Cactus Bowls, which sells açai bowls, this past August, taking the trailer to high school games and cheer competitions.
“I’m trying to stay away from sugar, but I saw a lot of people over there, though,” Bader said. “I hope there’s some good food that they’re serving in there.”
Bader has strung together good at-bats to begin Cactus League play, reaching base five times (four hits, one walk) and totaling five RBIs over 10 plate appearances. The center fielder will be in camp for another week before joining Team Israel for the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
“You just focus on the process involved with everything right before a result takes place,” Bader said. “So, with regards to that, you just want to swing at good pitches and set yourself up in the box. I like to move around the box a lot, so just putting myself in a good position to see the ball and swing at strikes is the biggest focus right now.”
Bader wasn’t the only Giant who left the yard on Wednesday. Top prospect Bryce Eldridge hit a towering two-run shot, and outfielder Luis Matos also cleared the left-field fence (though nowhere near Godfrey’s truck).
While Bader’s three-run shot was a true no-doubter, Eldridge’s first homer of the spring a wallscraper. Eldridge didn’t think he homered off the bat, but his fly ball kept going and Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell kept on drifting. Mitchell eventually ran out of room and Eldridge had a 391-foot, 101.3-mph homer.
“I think that’s just very fortunate to be the size I am,” said Eldridge, who is 2-for-8 with two walks this spring. “If anything, that was inside on the barrel a little bit, so maybe a little bit jammed. That’s the thing with me. I can take advantage of that. I think if you watched a lot of my home runs last year, people say most of them were on accident.
“There are a few I run into pretty well, but I think that was one of those ones where I just take advantage of the size and the strength. That’s what makes me different as a hitter.”
For all his natural power, Eldridge understands that there’s still room for him to grow as a hitter. Before Monday’s game, Eldridge took a couple of minutes to chat with soon-to-be Hall of Famer Jeff Kent, who hit more home runs than any second baseman in MLB history.
Kent, a spring training guest instructor, joked that he felt like a “clean toy that comes out and stands around” since he wasn’t doing too much hands-on coaching during his time in Scottsdale. When Eldridge approached, Kent was more than happy to dish out some free game.
“I asked him what made him so good. He started off by saying he hated losing; that was his thing,” Eldridge said. “(He wasn’t) afraid to learn from players around him, and that’s something that hit home with me. Like, I can learn from every single person here, whether they have 14 days of service time or no days of service time or 10 years of service time.
“The biggest thing is being open to learning from everyone. … Hearing that from him is reassuring that it’s very important in this game to make adjustments. He said he wasn’t scared of making adjustments.”
Lee departs for World Baseball Classic
The Giants’ marathon against the Brewers, one that saw 55 players enter the game, was right fielder Jung Hoo Lee’s final game before joining Team South Korea for the WBC, which is participating in Pool C.
While the teams in Pool A (Puerto Rico), Pool B (Houston) and Pool D (Miami) are playing in the continental United States, teams in Pool C will play in Tokyo.
Vitello said there is no concern about Lee making the overseas trip to Japan, adding that the Giants will have to be mindful once Lee returns to the team after the tournament. Before Lee’s departure, Vitello wrote a personal message to Lee, hoping that he would enjoy the experience.
“I just had a couple sentences in there,” Vitello said. “I think they made sense. Google Translate! I can read English, that’s about it. I can barely do that, to be honest with you.”
Whisenhunt shaky in first Cactus League appearance
For left-hander Carson Whisenhunt, Wednesday was a tale of two innings.
In his first frame, Whisenhunt retired all three batters he faced and recorded a strikeout of Jake Bauers. Then, the Giants rattled off five runs in the top of the fourth inning, forcing Whisenhunt to stew on the bench for about 20 minutes.
When Whisenhunt returned for his second inning of work, the 25-year-old had a sequence to scrap from memory. He faced five batters, walking four of them and allowing a single to the other. Vitello then lifted him in favor of right-hander Tristan Beck, who served up a grand slam to Brice Turang. Whisenhunt ended the afternoon with five earned runs to his name over one-plus inning.
“The thing you get on the bus with is know that first inning, he’s fully capable of doing that and hunting that approach down next time,” Vitello said.
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