The Cardinals have been among the sport’s most consistently successfully clubs in recent years, finishing above .500 each season since 2008. Among the reasons for those perennially strong results: the team’s knack for developing players from the middle tier of the farm system into successful major leaguers.
That ability to churn out productive hitters is a key factor in the club closing in on an NL Central title. Plenty of attention has been devoted to the MVP-caliber contributions of corner infielders Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt and the incredible turnaround for Albert Pujols, who collected his 700th career homer last Friday. That’s well-deserved, but it shouldn’t obscure from the production the club has gotten outside the middle of the lineup.
There are a few players who’ve been instrumental pieces of Oliver Marmol’s lineup. Tommy Edman has played Gold Glove caliber defense at both middle infield positions and stolen 31 bases. Even with roughly league average hitting, he’s been worth between five and six wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs and Baseball Reference. Brendan Donovan will probably get some third-place votes in NL Rookie of the Year balloting thanks to an excellent .279/.389/.377 line across 436 plate appearances. Yet neither player has been as impactful for St. Louis in the second half as second-year outfielder Lars Nootbaar.
Like Edman and Donovan, Nootbaar was a mid-round draftee. An eighth-round pick out of USC in 2018, he didn’t appear on an organizational prospect ranking at Baseball America before making his MLB debut last June. The left-handed hitter posted a league average .239/.317/.422 showing in 58 games as a rookie, but he didn’t have a place in a season-opening outfield of Tyler O’Neill, Harrison Bader and Dylan Carlson. Nootbaar saw a fair bit of pinch hit work early in the season, tallying 101 plate appearances in 40 games through the All-Star Break. St. Louis optioned him to Triple-A on three separate occasions, including a nearly month-long stint between April and May.
Nootbaar wasn’t especially productive during that early-season work. A plantar fasciitis diagnosis for Bader pushed Carlson from right field to center in late June, opening up the former position. St. Louis then dealt the injured Bader to the Yankees at the August 2 trade deadline, subtracting from the big league outfield to address their rotation needs by bringing in Jordan Montgomery. That marked a show of faith in both Carlson to handle the increased defensive demands up the middle, and in Nootbaar to hold his own with regular playing time in right field.
St. Louis brass has to be pleased with the way Nootbaar has taken to the opportunity. Since deadline day, he’s hitting .228/.362/.497 with nine home runs and seven doubles over 185 plate appearances. While the batting average isn’t eye-catching, he ranks 37th in on-base percentage and 30th in slugging among 149 qualified hitters over that stretch. Overall, Nootbaar’s season line is up to .229/.345/.458 in 316 plate appearances, offense that checks in 29 points above league average by measure of wRC+.
The results are strong as is, but the more impressive aspect is that Nootbaar has found success with dismal ball in play results. He owns a .221 BABIP since deadline day, the sixth-lowest mark among qualifiers. That’s not entirely attributable to poor fortune; Nootbaar hasn’t hit many line drives over this stretch. Yet he’s both hitting the ball hard and showing a strong awareness for the strike zone. His 17.3% walk rate since the deadline is topped only by Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, and he’s one of eight qualified batters with more free passes than punchouts. His 91.6 MPH average exit velocity and 47.5% hard contact rate, meanwhile, are each decidedly better than average.
Nootbaar’s production has tailed off in September following a scorching August, largely thanks to a woeful .146 BABIP this month. The power, plate discipline and bat-to-ball skills have largely remained intact, however. He has a 10:13 walk-to-strikeout ratio in 68 September plate appearances, and he’s connected on six extra-base hits (including four longballs).
During his first extended action as an everyday major league player, Nootbaar has shown plus power potential, an extremely discerning eye and decent bat-to-ball skills. Even if his line drive rate stays down, he’s shown the ability to be productive despite a subpar batting average. If Nootbaar can improve upon his bat control even slightly, he has a chance to be a well above-average offensive player.
He’ll certainly need more than two months of solid production to cement himself as a core piece of the organization’s future, but he’s played his way into an everyday outfield job heading into the playoffs. President of baseball operations John Mozeliak, GM Michael Girsch and the rest of the front office took a risk in dealing from their outfield in the middle of a contested division race. Nootbaar has, thus far, rewarded their faith by effectively stepping into that vacancy.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Searching for Mr. Nootbaar.
“Gentlemen’s Club”
Now——Searching for Mr. Goldschmidt.
I hope he can pick it back up !!! But—— after all he’s done this season—— he could just be flat exhausted!!
First time in the year and then we
Nootbar has been a pleasant surprise, but I need to see him do more of this. Have seen enough breakout players only to be not consistent in year 2.
He was pretty impressive in 2021 as well. After his first half struggles where he batted less than .190 he said he wasn’t willing to “roll over” determined young man. Impressive player especially for a “4th outfielder”
He may be my favorite young player on the team. His throwing arm is an asset as well. He quietly showed potential at the end of last season, but was overshadowed by several other players having big second halves. I’m glad to see Noot getting some recognition, he’s been a big part of our success this season.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot!
We don’t need more player feature articles about guys who aren’t trade or extension candidates that make this site look like discount Fangraphs. A transaction-based feature or two every other day, like the 1B market artocle is enough given all the content this site puts out daily.
Or you could just read the articles that interest you and pass by the articles that don’t. That’s always an option.
Or you could just add something of value to the discussion instead of being the MLBTR white knight, Nolan. People can offer constructive criticism without you being snarky just to seem virtuous.
Yeah, we need another article about the Luis Castillo contract. /eyeroll
Again, the sarcasm adds nothing. Just because you don’t agree with someone’s criticism, doesn’t mean you need to be rude, dotnet.
You are in the minority on this one, BenBenBen
I enjoy articles like this, especially before the playoffs!
Without any doubt the Cards are one of the most successful organizations in the majors, praise to its front office.
The cardinals will win as many playoff games this year as the Nats, Pirates, Rockies, RedSox, Tigers and A’s combined.
You’re forever hating on the Cardinals.
Wanna put your money where your mouth is?
IMO: I still believe the Cardinals will regret trading Harrison Bader. I realize they were RH batter heavy but Tyler O’Neill might have been a better trade candidate.
He is a free agent after next season so the sting will be short lived.
I 100% agree with you GaryHarris.
Plus O’Neil is a Boras player and the Cards I believe have yet to sign a Scott boras free agent. I may be wrong, but I may be right!
they signed Holliday
That wouldn’t have worked, as the Yankees were looking specifically for a true center fielder.
Ummm what? They got Jordan Montgomery who wasn’t even avaliable… They needed pitching, not a hurt centerfielder? Genius trade getting something for nothing and O’Neill will be back, and not someone Cardinals fans will want to be seeing hit 30+ homeruns for the Yankees…
Nothing but a fourth outfielder on a real team. If that.
Like your team?
Health is always an issue as with O’Neil, but the cardinals will have to replace both Molina and Wainright, so FA’s might be that route for them, but they always have a surprise in their farm system that surprises everyone. Luckily they have p;layed in a 2 team division for a long time as the Cubs will be improving in ’23 and beyond to give the Cardinals and Brewers some better competition, but the Pirates and Reds will remain weak for a while longer. The Cardinals are a model of how to run an organization. I didn’t like what they did to Mike Stildt and thought that whole situation was handled poorly.
Waino hasn’t said for sure he’s retiring. He’s taking the wait and see approach again. Yadi is done, as is Pujols
It wasn’t a two team division until last year (2021). It could even be argued that it was four team division in 2020.
The 2020 season was so wrapped up in covid it hardly mattered as the Cubs lost to the Marlins in round one. the season was drive by who had the least covid cases. So few games was more a matter of luck.
2019 the Cubs were 7 games out and only 2 games separated the Cards and Brewers. The Reds and Pirates were in the rear.
2021 saw the Cubs 24 games out with the Brewers besting the Cardinals by 5 games. The Reds were 12 out and the bucs out 34 games.
Yes, so it was still a 3-team division in 2019.
In the Arizona Fall League, the 5 players the Cardinals had were Nolan Gorman, Juan Yepez, Jordon Hicks and Lars, Nootbar was the best
Matt Carpenter?
He should be on the Braves. Large Nut Bar playing for Snickers.
Noot noot!
Best NHL name in all of Baseball
Nootbaar’s defense wasn’t given near enough mention; that arm is accurate and strong.
The Cardinals also have other OF candidates stacked behind Nootbar, including Burleson, Gomez and perhaps Walker.
Noot! There it is!
Best name in MLB!
At the trade deadline, a friend said to me that Nootbaar would be hitting .265 by the end of the regular season. And I took that bet. Easiest bottle of scotch that I’ve ever won. Nootbaar just doesn’t pass the eye test. Getting ready to give up on Carlson….