The St. Louis Cardinals have a very talented young core full of star players across the board. While some of these players, like Quinn Mathews and JJ Weatherholt, haven't reached the big leagues yet, others have and are already showing some incredible potential.
Josh Jacobs of Redbird Rants recently called Lars Nootbaar the team's fourth most valuable young player and shared some high praise of the breakout star.
"Nootbaar is making a strong case for his first-ever All-Star nod this year, and even if he doesn't get it, just keeping up this kind of production all year long would be sweet confirmation of how good the 27-year-old can be," Jacobs wrote. "Right now, Nootbaar is on pace for 24 home runs, 81 RBI, and 98 runs scored over the course of 150 games, which Nootbaar is currently on track to play in 154.
"While injuries have been a fair criticism of Nootbaar, what I have not understood is why people have felt the need to diminish his ability as a player. When he is on the field, he produces. Yes, he does need to show he can stay on the field consistently for people to take him seriously as a top-end talent, but his 4.5 fWAR pace sure does point to how well he is producing this year."
Nootbaar, 27, is in his fifth year in the big leagues and looks as solid as ever. The outfielder looks to be well on his way to breaking his single season home run mark of 14 homers.
But it feels like we're seeing him at around his ceiling. He's continued to post an OPS in the mid .700s for the last few seasons. Nootbaar may never be a guy who can post an OPS over .800 or .850 with an sort of consistency, but that's not a bad thing.
He's still quite valuable and a very talented young player in St. Louis.
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