JUPITER, Fla. – Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar will start the season on the 10-day injured list because his surgically repaired heels are not 100 percent.
Since he arrived in camp in February, Nootbaar, 28, has been swinging the bat and throwing the baseball. However, he still has to show the club that he can run the bases and play left field at full speed. Nootbaar started his running progression on Friday, but no date has been set on when he will return to the lineup.
Nootbaar underwent offseason surgery in October to address Haglund’s deformities in both heels, which caused irritation and pain where the Achilles tendon attaches to the heel. Nootbaar doesn’t know how the injuries came about. He believes normal wear and tear caused the problems. The heel injuries affected his ability to run the bases and have a “normal everyday life.”
Once he is off the IL, Nootbaar could help the Cardinals in different ways. He has the ability to draw walks -- since 2021, Nootbaar ranks 16th in walk percentage (12.8) -- and drive the baseball. Nootbaar is one of four Cardinals all-time with double-digit career homer totals from all three outfield positions, joining Stan Musial, Wally Moon and Randal Grichuk.
With Nootbaar not starting the season on time, outfielder Nelson Velázquez has a strong chance to make the team out of Spring Training. Entering Saturday’s action against the Marlins, Velázquez has a slash line of .333/.435/.667 with four homers and 10 RBIs.
Even more impressive is that Velázquez has made “a solid effort” to make defense important, according to manager Oliver Marmol.
“[Outfield coach Jon] Jay has done a really nice job of holding him [Velázquez] to that,” the skipper said. “The work that is being put in by Velázquez has been really good. So it’s easy to talk about the homers, but you have to be a complete player and he has put a lot of time into that part of it.”