Lars Nootbaar

Lars Nootbaar

27-Year-Old OutfielderOF
St. Louis Cardinals
2025 Fantasy Outlook
Injuries were a problem again for Nootbaar in 2024, as he was limited to just 109 games because of a fractured rib and strained oblique. He's now made five trips to the injured list since the beginning of the 2023 campaign. Nootbaar also saw his ground ball rate rise again in 2024 to a career-high 51.7 percent. Those are the main two factors as to why he's never hit more than 14 home runs in a season even as his quality of contact (49.5 percent hard-hit rate, 9.9 percent barrel rate in 2024) point to a guy who should be a 20-plus homer guy. That said, between the batted-ball data and elite walk rate, Nootbaar still brings interesting skills to the table if he can ever put together a full, healthy season. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#261
ADP
$Signed a one-year, $2.95 million contract with the Cardinals in February of 2025.
Success from leadoff spot
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
March 27, 2025
Nootbaar went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run and two runs scored Thursday against the Twins.
ANALYSIS
Nootbaar batted primarily sixth in the order in 2024, though he appears to be the team's primary leadoff option against right-handed pitching to begin this season. He led off the opening frame with a single and came around to score, and he delivered his first home run of the season one frame later.
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Batting Stats
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2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
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2024 MLB Game Log
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2023 MLB Game Log
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2022 MLB Game Log
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2021 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2023
 
 
+13%
OPS vs RHP
2025
 
 
-100%
OPS vs RHP
2024
 
 
+8%
OPS vs LHP
2023
 
 
+31%
OPS vs RHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2023vs Left .712 233 22 4 24 4 .250 .339 .373
Since 2023vs Right .801 679 93 23 69 14 .256 .362 .439
2025vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2025vs Right 1.750 4 2 1 2 0 .500 .500 1.250
2024vs Left .800 109 9 2 11 3 .274 .358 .442
2024vs Right .743 296 30 10 34 4 .233 .336 .407
2023vs Left .635 124 13 2 13 1 .229 .323 .312
2023vs Right .835 379 61 12 33 10 .271 .381 .454
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2023
 
 
+13%
OPS on Road
2025
 
 
-100%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+15%
OPS on Road
2023
 
 
+14%
OPS on Road
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2023Home .730 443 59 14 44 6 .236 .337 .393
Since 2023Away .823 469 56 13 49 12 .272 .374 .449
2025Home 1.750 4 2 1 2 0 .500 .500 1.250
2025Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024Home .703 194 21 5 20 1 .222 .320 .383
2024Away .809 211 18 7 25 6 .265 .362 .448
2023Home .732 245 36 8 22 5 .243 .348 .383
2023Away .834 258 38 6 24 6 .277 .384 .450
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Lars Nootbaar compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.00
 
BB Rate
0.0%
 
K Rate
0.0%
 
BABIP
.333
 
ISO
.750
 
AVG
.500
 
OBP
.500
 
SLG
1.250
 
OPS
1.750
 
wOBA
.748
 
Exit Velocity
102.8 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
50.0%
 
Barrels/PA
25.0%
 
Expected BA
.543
 
Expected SLG
1.363
 
Sprint Speed
0.0 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
25.0%
 
Line Drive %
25.0%
 
Fly Ball %
50.0%
 
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2024
2023
Nootbaar made three trips to the injured list in 2023 due to thumb, back and abdominal issues. Those injuries limited him to 117 games and 503 plate appearances, but when available he was impressive with the bat, totaling 14 homers and 11 steals to go with a .261 average. The outfielder showcased an impressive eye at the plate with a 14.3 BB% and 19.7 K%, nearly identical to his 2022 marks. The slugging lags behind the rest of his offensive game a bit -- his SLG fell to just .418 last season -- but Nootbaar does enough well across the board to warrant a high level of interest in mixed leagues that require five starting outfielders. Given that he had a dramatic lefty/righty platoon split (200 points of OPS to be exact), it would make sense if the Cardinals sat him occasionally against tough southpaws. Even so, Nootbaar could in theory approach 600 plate appearances with better luck on the health front while rotating between the three outfield spots for St. Louis.
Was this Cardinals' Devil Magic or just good development by St. Louis? Nootbaar inched his way up the organizational depth chart since entering the organization in 2018 and has shown an ability to hit for average and get on base in the minors but that did not initially translate into the same success at the big-league level. He certainly accepted his walks as a rookie in 2021, but he has not yet hit for average in nearly 500 plate appearances at the big-league level. He did, however, show surprising power in 2022, banging out nearly as many homers (18 between Triple-A and MLB) than he had from 2018-21 (20.) The StatCast sliders show plenty of bright Cardinal Red in many of the right places, but things get funky when you dive into the splits and see 13 of his 14 homers came against righties. However, Nootbaar hit .217 against righties and .273 against lefties when left in there to face them. He had similar R/L splits in 2021 but no such troubles in Triple-A, so it could be a small case of reverse splits. Either way, he is trending in a very good direction and has gone from 2022 deep sleeper to 2023 potential five-category producer if that average against righties adjusts.
More Fantasy News
Poised to hit leadoff Opening Day
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
March 24, 2025
Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said Monday that he plans to deploy Nootbaar as the team's leadoff hitter in Thursday's season opener versus the Twins, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
ANALYSIS
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Reaching base often this spring
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
March 19, 2025
Nootbaar reached base three times and scored a pair of runs Wednesday as the Cardinals defeated the Nationals in Grapefruit League play.
ANALYSIS
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Wins arbitration case
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
February 12, 2025
Nootbaar will earn $2.95 million in 2025 after winning his arbitration case with the Cardinals on Wednesday, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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Homer, triple in win
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
September 27, 2024
Nootbaar went 2-for-5 with a triple, a home run and three RBI in Friday's 6-3 win over the Giants.
ANALYSIS
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Two hits, homer
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
September 26, 2024
Nootbaar went 2-for-5 with a solo home run, an RBI double and an additional run scored during Thursday's 10-8 loss to the Rockies.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Shaky future in St. Louis?
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
February 25, 2025
Any Cardinals player that has gone to an arbitration hearing in the past 30 years hasn't remained with the club long term, which could indicate that Nootbaar's time with the team is limited after winning his arbitration case in mid-February, reports Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
ANALYSIS
The 27-year-old won the arbitration case and will make $2.95 million in 2025 with two more years of arbitration eligibility. The Cardinals history with such players doesn't necessarily mean that Nootbaar will be headed elsewhere within the next few years, but it's worth keeping in mind with the organization currently in re-tooling mode. The outfielder had a .244/.342/.417 slash line with 12 home runs and seven steals in 109 games last year.
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