Bader, whose work at the plate will be scrutinized this spring after back-to-back subpar seasons, laced long drives off Ryan Helsley and Kwang Hyun Kim during batting practice Friday, Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

EDGE Analysis

It's just an early spring training batting practice, but seeing Bader get good wood on the ball off two quality arms certainly had to please manager Mike Shildt, who has the 26-year-old penciled in as his starting center fielder largely based on his strong defense. Bader has hit just ..205 and .226 over the last two seasons following an encouraging .264/.334/.422 line back in 2018, and he'll likely be given plenty of Grapefruit League at-bats to get his timing down ahead of what all parties hope is a resurgent season with the bat.