MLB Insider Reveals Cardinals' Head-Scratching Lars Nootbaar Plan

Why have the St. Louis Cardinals stuck with Lars Nootbaar as an everyday player this season?

It's a question that Cardinals fans have been wondering as they've watched Nootbaar's hot start to the season turn frigid, giving him a slash line of .229/.335/.371/.706 entering Saturday.

Nootbaar is in the middle of a career-worst slump, but St. Louis needs to see if he can get out of it. In other words, the Cardinals are prioritizing gaining intel on Nootbaar (intel they'll need for future roster decisions) over the desperation to win now.

It's a choice that The Athletic’s Katie Woo recently shed light on as Woo answered a mailbag question about which players the Cardinals are most focused on developing moving forward.

“If (Jordan) Walker and (Nolan) Gorman were priority No. 1 this season, consider Nootbaar priority 1A," Woo said. "Nootbaar was always under the runway umbrella, though the concern from the organization was more health-related than performance."

"Nootbaar has done a nice job staying on the field this year, and it’s been a top priority for him," Woo continued.

"He knows that the organization will be evaluating his performance this year before deciding what his role will be in the future. That’s why manager Oli Marmol has continued to play Nootbaar despite arguably the worst slump of the 27-year-old’s career. Similar to Walker and Gorman, the Cardinals need to know if Nootbaar can overcome and make adjustments at the major-league level, and the only way to find that out is by playing him every day.”

The Cardinals are fully committed to assessing Nootbaar’s long-term value. As Woo pointed out, Nootbaar’s challenge has been durability in his career. His injury history—oblique strains, wrist issues, and back problems—limited him to just 347 games from 2021 to 2024, disabling the Cardinals from gaining a full understanding of Nootbaar's potential.

This season, however, Nootbaar has stayed healthy, appearing in nearly every game through June.

The Cardinals see Nootbaar as a potential everyday outfielder, and they are obviously hoping he'll break out of the current cold phase.

St. Louis' handling of Nootbaar reflects the club's broader priorities of building for the near future over winning now. It's a wise strategy given the fact that, despite a surprising record, the Cards aren't World Series contenders.