Derek Shore: Bader's emergence a welcome sight for Cards

Jul. 29—It has been a welcome sight to see the emergence of Harrison Bader for the St. Louis Cardinals this month.

And a long time coming.

Bader is having a phenomenal July. It's no doubt that it is best month of his major-league career, probably even baseball life.

Since coming off the injured list on July 1 due to a rib injury, the Cardinals' center fielder has been their top hitter this month with a .364 batting average, .417 on-base percentage and .649 slugging percentage.

But the most telling statistic about Bader, who has been plagued by significant swing-and-miss issues throughout his career, is he has almost as many extra-base hits (12) as strikeouts (13).

Entering Wednesday afternoon's action, Bader was 19-for-his-last-39 (.487) over his past 11 games.

If you had asked me in April if Bader would be the only Cardinal to have an average over .300 one day before the July 30 trade deadline, I would not have believed you.

"He's got tremendous talent, we always knew that," Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright told the media recently. "He's kind of turned the corner offensively, though, to become this total player that he's come to be."

Bader has seven doubles, five home runs and 16 runs batted in over 77 July at-bats. If he had enough at-bats to qualify, he would lead the Cardinals with an .893 OPS. Not only that, entering Wednesday Bader's 1.6 WAR for July was tied with Washington's Juan Soto for tops in the majors.

People have fallen in awe of Bader's defense for a long time, but now we need to appreciate his evolution into a potent offensive threat. With budding talents like Tyler O'Neill to his left and Dylan Carlson to his right, the future of St. Louis' outfield looks promising.

"Offensive outfield production is really important," Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. "When we haven't had it, regardless of who's out there, it compromises our ability to score consistent runs. When we have it, it makes life a lot easier."

Trade deadline

After Wednesday's loss at Cleveland, the Cardinals are 51-51 and can't seem to dig themselves out of the .500 hole. St. Louis sits in third place and trails NL Central division leader Milwaukee by 8 1/2 games, and clearly the Cardinals are not in a good spot to make a win-now move at the deadline.

And at this point, they shouldn't.

While it makes sense to pursue and add an established starter with control beyond 2021, why part ways with two Top 100 prospects — like Nolan Gorman or Matthew Liberatore — for two months of Max Scherzer?

It's not logical from a Cardinal standpoint when they have a shot at pursuing the St. Louis native in the free agent market this offseason.

But ultimately, the Cardinals need to stand pat and look ahead to 2022 with the goal to shore up the starting rotation this winter.