Cardinals Announce Decision About Outfielder Lars Nootbaar

The St. Louis Cardinals are making a change.

St. Louis outfielder Lars Nootbaar has been in the leadoff spot for the Cardinals, but he has been struggling. Over the last eight games, Nootbaar is 3-for-37 from the plate and has dropped his batting average all the way down from .252 to .226.

Over the eight-game stretch, Nootbaar also has logged four walks and has struck out 17 times.

It has been a tough stretch and the team overall has struggled. While this is the case, they are making a change now. MLB.com's John Denton confirmed on Friday night that the Cardinals are moving Nootbaar out of the leadoff spot moving forward.

"Cardinals manager Oli Marmol confirmed that his team will be making a change at the top of the lineup tomorrow with Lars Nootbaar continuing to struggle and #Brewers LHP José Quintana slated to start," Denton said.

Overall this season, Nootbaar has appeared in 67 games and slashed .226/.329/.361 with eight home runs, 28 RBIs, four stolen bases, 12 doubles, 39 runs scored.

The Cardinals fan-favorite has gone through stretches where he has looked like his typical dynamic self. But, this is just a cold stretch. Moving him out of the leadoff spot hopefully will take away some of the pressure and give him a shot to turn things around quickly.

If the Cardinals are going to turn things around overall, they are going to need Nootbaar at his best.