Once a spring, Yadier Molina picks a day where he sticks behind the plate for all nine innings of a Grapefruit League game to get his body acclimated to the grind that begins with the regular season. Usually, he maps that day out with manager Mike Shildt, whose goal all spring is finding the balance of getting players proper reps while keeping them fresh for Opening Day.

This spring, however, Molina made the spontaneous decision to do so amid Friday’s game against the Astros, opting to navigate longtime batterymate Adam Wainwright and five additional pitchers through respective jams to a 4-3 win.

He hit a game-winning 416-foot home run, to boot.

“Not too bad for an old man, right?” Molina joked.

It continued what’s been a head-turning spring for Molina, or at least as head-turning a player can have when he's been doling out positive impressions since being drafted 21 years ago. Although his legacy is already cemented, Molina has not let his reputation precede him. He’s still throwing out runners, still hitting homers, still frustrated when he can’t hold onto a two-strike foul tip for an out.

“He's doing everything that somebody trying to make the team would do,” Shildt said recently.

“That's just such a professional way to approach it,” Wainwright responded.

Molina this spring has done so with a bit of a different tenor. He’s expressed a willingness to split duties this upcoming season, though specific playing time remains to be seen. Molina turns 39 on July 13 -- the date of the 2021 All-Star Game, which would be his 10th, if selected -- and is re-signed on just a one-year deal, with him and Wainwright saying they’re approaching the twilight of their careers on a year-by-year basis.

The Cardinals have a Major League-ready catcher in Andrew Knizner, who projects as the backup, if not a split-duty backstop this season. While Molina feels fresh, as evident in his production, he’s taken his elder statesman role to an elevated level this spring. Most notably, he and No. 4 prospect Ivan Herrera seem to have an inseparable bond.

Non-roster invitee Tyler Heineman has said that part of the reason he signed with the Cardinals on a Minor League deal was to play for his favorite team growing up. And also to learn from Molina.

“Those young guys, they like to learn, they like to work,” Molina said. “I’m just happy for them. Every day they challenge me, I challenge them.”

You can call it Molina paying his experiences forward for whenever the torch is officially passed on. No matter what you call it, his coaches and teammates say it’s evident how much love Molina still has for the game after 17 years in the big leagues.

“That's something that hopefully feeds into all the younger guys,” Wainwright said. “When you see that the guys who are maybe the best of all time at their position doing those little things right.”

Molina has also shown a penchant for viral moments this spring, an indicator of just how much his play can be at the forefront of consciousness this late into his career.

On top of calling every pitch in that epic battle between Jordan Hicks and Luis Guillorme, he caught fire while daring Jose Siri of the Astros to steal second base in a March 7 game -- and cutting him down with ease.

“He sees things in the game that other people just don't see,” said right-hander John Gant.

A jaw-dropping stat, first presented on the Mets’ broadcast during the March 9 game, demonstrated that Molina has completely changed the way some teams approach their run game. One would think, as wear and tear catches up, that Molina’s pop time and home-to-second would eventually allow opponents to run on him more.

One would think.

“He’s throwing really good, as good as I’ve seen in the last several years,” Shildt said. “Which is saying something.”

“He probably thinks he can throw him out on two-hop and a changeup,” said veteran reliever Andrew Miller. “ … His reputation tends to prevent guys from even trying to run.”

Molina’s role was already taken to another level last season, when he helped commandeer the Cardinals’ pitching staff through a turbulent season, rife with pauses and doubleheaders. All part of his reputation, and all part of what makes fellow catchers and pitchers so excited to play alongside him.

“Just having him back there calling the pitches, whatever number he throws down, I'm pretty confident it’s the right one,” Gant said. “I feel conviction in that pitch throwing it.”

Molina was courted by other contenders this offseason, but St. Louis was where he wanted to return all along. It was the same with Wainwright. It’s almost impossible to imagine the duo in any other jersey.

Sometimes, though, Molina just may need to be talked out of wearing the jersey as much as he does.

“When he walks down the hallway, he goes, ‘I’m in there tomorrow, right?’” Shildt recalled after Friday night’s game. “And I said, ‘No, let's shoot for Sunday.’”