Lars Nootbaar

BIOGRAPHY

Lars Nootbaar was born September 8, 1997, in El Segundo, California. He is an outfielder in the MLB.

Nootbar was selected in the 8th round of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. After signing with the team he was assigned to the State College Spikes of the Class A Short Season New York–Penn League, where he set a team record with seven RBIs in one game. For the season, he hit .227 with two home runs and 26 RBIs over 56 games. Nootbaar began the 2019 season with the Class A Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League before being promoted to the Class A-Advanced Palm Beach Cardinals of the Florida State League. He was promoted a second time to the Springfield Cardinals of the Class AA Texas League. Over 101 games between the three clubs, he batted .264 with seven home runs and 38 RBIs. 

On June 22, 2021, Nootbaar was selected to the 40-man roster and promoted to the major leagues for the first time. At the time of his promotion, he was slashing .329/.430/.557 with five home runs and 17 RBIs over 22 games. He made his MLB debut that day as the starting left fielder against the Detroit Tigers. The following day, Nootbaar recorded his first career hit, a triple. He hit his first career home run as a pinch-hitter off J. T. Brubaker in a 7-6 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 12, 2021. Nootbaar hit another pinch-hit home run the next day in a 6-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Nootbaar finished the 2021 season slashing .239/.317/.422 with five home runs and 15 RBIs over 109 at-bats. He was selected to play in the Arizona Fall League for the Glendale Desert Dogs after the season.

Nootbaar entered the 2022 season as the Cardinals' fourth outfielder before eventually moving into a starting role after injuries and positive play. Over 108 games and 290 at-bats for St. Louis, he slashed .228/.340/.448 with 14 home runs, forty RBIs, and 16 doubles.