ST. LOUIS -- Despite becoming fast friends during their time together leading Team Japan to the World Baseball Classic title in March, Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar couldn’t quite get Shohei Ohtani to break his routine on Monday.
Nootbaar texted Ohtani to see if he wanted to meet up for lunch on Monday’s off-day in St. Louis, but Ohtani wrote back that he planned on sleeping in and wasn’t going to be able to make it. Nootbaar joked that Ohtani’s strict sleep routine is one of the many things he learned about him while being teammates in the Classic.
“He sleeps a lot,” Nootbaar said with a grin. “I asked if he wanted to get lunch and he said he was sleeping. But he’s just a normal guy. He’s a humble dude. He’s comfortable in his skin. That's kind of what stood out to me the most is that he's just one of the guys. Awesome guy, awesome friend. Obviously, an amazing baseball player, but pretty easy-going.”
Nootbaar, who grew up locally in El Segundo and went to USC before being drafted by the Cardinals in the eighth round of the 2018 Draft, was eligible to play for Team Japan because his mother is Japanese. He said Ohtani was especially welcoming to him during their time together with Team Japan, which meant a lot to him. The duo went viral for their “pepper grinder” celebration during the Classic and Nootbaar said it was another example of Ohtani being laid back and going with Nootbaar’s idea.
“For me, I was going to a new team, new culture, new language, everything like that, and so I asked Shohei what we were going to do for celebrations,” Nootbaar said. “He said they didn’t really have anything, so whatever I do, they would just roll with it. So that’s just who he is. And so I got on base and did what I do with the pepper grinder and the guys kinda rallied behind it. And he rolled with it. Him having that presence in Japan made it take off.”
Nootbaar and Ohtani ended up finally getting the chance to catch up before the series opener on Tuesday, spending time in left field with interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.
And Nootbaar served as the leadoff hitter against Ohtani on Wednesday, but struck out in all three at-bats, as Ohtani tied a career-high with 13 strikeouts.
It helped Ohtani reach another milestone, getting to 500 career strikeouts, which put him in rare company. He joined Babe Ruth as the only other player in AL/NL history with 500 strikeouts as a pitcher and 100 homers as a hitter. He’s also the 10th Japanese-born player to reach 500 strikeouts.
“He’s a once-in-a-lifetime talent, and I keep saying it, but he’s just super humble,” Nootbaar said. “It just surprised me. He’s just a normal guy with superhero ability and is just completely OK with it.”
Ohtani also had a big series offensively in the Angels’ three-game sweep in St. Louis, going 4-for-8 with a double and has a seven-game hitting streak heading into the club’s three-game series against the first-place Rangers this weekend. Nootbaar said Ohtani’s raw power wowed him during the WBC, especially during batting practice.
“You hear everything and you see the highlights, but seeing it day to day, seeing him take BP, I've never seen anything like it,” Nootbaar said. “And then when we went to Miami [for the WBC final against Team USA], and he took BP, I talked to Nolan [Arenado] after the game, and he said he had never seen anything like it. So I was like, OK, Nolan has seen some guys, so for him to say that it means it wasn’t just me.”