willie might be right. Bader has a BABIP of .150 and 13.8 K%. Putting the ball in play maybe should be the main metric for a guy like Bader. This will have to continue a lot longer before we get too excited.
The thing is bader has never tracked to be a great on base guy. Also and it could be true of others but I have seen 3 at bats where bader should have walked but ended up getting out because of umpire inconsistency far as ball and strike calls. You can tell bader is seeing the ball well. If this is the bader going forward, I think he’s fine. A few more of those hits will go his way. To me he’s always been more of a power guy than an on base guy. People see speed and instantly think on base guy, steal bases, etc but it just seems like he’s a power guy that happens to be fast, like oneil. Sure I would like him to get on base more but as long as he’s staying on balls, not striking out a lot, and playing good defense, I think he’s fine. It could be a thing where it’s just a moment thing and he reverts back but right now he’s fine. If oneil and Dejong could stay as consistent, I think offensively we will be fine. That doesn’t make us a juggernaut and isn’t going to satisfy some but if our pitching holds and I still think we have a couple weak bullpen spots, we should be competing to the wire for this division.
Once Yadi is back Bader will hopefully resume his position in the 8 hole. Play good CF and don’t hurt yourself in the batters box. Dejong is much more of a concern. And Goldy. 33 game sample size now.
Mike Cameron might be a good example of Bader’s absolute best ceiling.
Edit: Reviewed Cameron’s numbers again. He is better than I remember. I don’t think Bader could get the walks and consistant 20 HR seasons.