This story was excerpted from Will Leitch's Cardinals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
Lars Nootbaar has not been with the Cardinals forever. In fact, he’s actually only been with them since 2021. That’s not that long ago, even if it may seem that way sometimes. His first Major League at-bat was against the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal at Comerica Park; with Yadier Molina on second base, Nootbaar grounded out.
Nootbaar, who will be returning to the Cardinals' lineup sometime in the next week in his first MLB game since last September, is the longest-tenured Cardinal, by a wide margin. He has played 527 games as a Cardinal, and only four current teammates (Nolan Gorman, Alec Burleson, Masyn Winn and Jordan Walker) have played even half that many.
Nootbaar is the only Cardinal who has played a postseason game for the team, going 2-for-6 in the 2022 Wild Card Series loss to the Phillies. He is the only person who was teammates with Molina and Albert Pujols, and is the only player to play for a Cardinals manager other than Oliver Marmol. He almost feels like he is from an entirely different generation of Cardinals history.
Nootbaar, heading into this season, was undeniably the most popular and well-known Cardinal remaining on the roster. No one else has the entire stadium chanting his name (Noooot!) when he comes to the plate. But it should be noted that his popularity – and excitement for his potential – has always sort of outpaced his production. He has always been a Statcast darling with a terrific batting eye and the tantalizing prospect of untapped power. Heading into 2023, after his best season in 2022 (a 124 OPS+) and a World Baseball Classic title with Japan that gave him global name recognition, it looked like he was going to have multiple All-Star appearances in his future.
(In case you’ve forgotten how huge Nootbaar was after that WBC, here’s a commercial he made in Japan for a protein bar. At least I think it’s a protein bar.)
But the injuries got Nootbaar. He played 117 games in 2023 and 109 in 2024, and while he reached a career high with 135 in 2025, the heel injury that caused him to miss the first two months of this season clearly hindered him, and he put up career lows in every slash category. The injuries were such an issue, in fact, that while every other Cardinal with his sort of seniority (Nolan Arenado, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras) was traded away in the offseason, Nootbaar was stuck on the 60-day IL. Had there been a market for him, or had he been healthy, he would have certainly been gone. But there wasn’t.
And thus: He is here. And the team he is returning to is in a much, much different situation than anyone could have possibly expected it to be. The general presumption was that when Nootbaar recovered from his injury, he’d get regular playing time to showcase him to potential trade suitors. This made sense. Nootbaar will be a free agent after the 2027 season, too soon for the Cardinals' supposed “contention window.” He’s also the second-highest-paid player on the roster (behind Dustin May, who signed a one-year deal in the offseason). The thought was that the Cardinals would be continuing to build for the future by the time Nootbaar returned, a future that could be boosted by trading him.
That may still be the case, but, as it turns out, the Cardinals need Nootbaar now – arguably more than they ever have. The Cardinals have been one of the most pleasant surprises of the season, to the point that while the future is still the priority, there’s no question that they’re in the thick of the postseason chase and certainly seem positioned to remain so for the rest of the summer, thanks to huge steps forward from the young players who have been playing while Nootbaar mended.
With the injury to Nathan Church – and the offensive struggles of Victor Scott II, who could potentially be replaced by Church when he returns – left field is wide open for Nootbaar. And the lack of production from the bottom of the order has revealed a clear, obvious need for another bat to lengthen the lineup. While the club entered Tuesday ranked fourth in the Majors in OPS from the top four lineup spots (usually JJ Wetherholt, Iván Herrera, Burleson and Walker), it also ranked dead last in OPS from lineup spots 5-9. If the Cardinals are going to remain in the playoff chase, they very much need to add a bat.
Enter Nootbaar, whose on-base ability and power will fit in nicely in the fifth or sixth slot (or even seventh if Marmol wants to keep alternating his lefty and righty bats). Currently, if you can get through the meat of the Cardinals’ order, it slackens noticeably at the back third. Nootbaar can change that. Maybe he’ll do so while also rebuilding his trade value. Or maybe he’ll just end up sticking around for a team that suddenly has legitimate 2026 ambitions.
Nootbaar has, throughout most of his Cardinals career, represented the future, but injuries robbed him of that. He’s now the established veteran … one whose personal sensibility and unquestioned sense of fun would seem to mesh perfectly with a roster that’s now much younger than he is.
As beloved as Nootbaar is, he’s never truly reached the place with the Cardinals that their fans (and front-office brass) hoped he would. But he has the perfect opportunity – for his future, for his Cardinals tenure and for a team that could very much use him – to erase all of those injury frustrations and return to the center of Cardinals fans’ hearts right now. It’s ideal timing across the board – for him, for the team and for those fans.
So, all together now: NOOOOOOOT.