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From coveted trade piece to key cog? Cardinals’ Nootbaar looks to carve out role in 2023

Lars Nootbaar was bent over a laptop in a warehouse in Orange County, California, that’s been converted to a batting cage.

He was on a video call with instructors at Driveline Baseball’s main facility outside of Seattle, feverishly working to sync up a Rapsodo camera and radar for hitters with their assistance.

Cardinals assistant director of performance Thomas Knox was nearby, reminding him that, in the old days, hitters simply took front toss in the offseason. Nolan Arenado, the facility’s owner, was also there, though not exactly involved in the setup part of the proceedings.

“I’m on my hands and knees, I’m FaceTiming, I’m doing anything that I can. Nolan was gracious enough to let me hit at his place,” Nootbaar explained. “We’re not the Wright Brothers when it comes to that kind of stuff.”

The equipment and the time in the cage is designed to help them discover flight.

This winter marked the second time Nootbaar journeyed up the Pacific coast for a four-day stay at Driveline’s industry-leading facility, bringing Arenado along with him both times. Videos shared by the company on social media featured the outfielder stripped down to his underwear, plastered in sensors, celebrating vigorously as a ball left his bat at more than 109 miles per hour.

What was once measured in home runs and runs batted in is now more commonly understood as a function of batted ball data, and players know how to read the numbers. Hit the ball hard, and over a long enough stretch, it will fall in. The message is getting through.

“Every year I gain more understanding and knowledge of how they’re training me, my swing, get more familiar with their terminology and what they’re trying to do,” Nootbaar explained. “Every year, I’m always thinking how stupid I was the year before, the time before when I was doing it.”

In years past, Nootbaar’s focus was on adding bat speed. Now, with that measuring at an elite level, this winter featured a focus on bat path and keeping the elite speed in the zone for longer, encouraging harder contact.

Driveline’s John Soteropulos (recently hired as a roving instructor by the Boston Red Sox) and Andrew Aydt have been Nootbaar’s primary points of contact at the facility. Soteropulos, in fact, has worked with him since his freshman year of college and has been intimately involved in shaping his swing since the days, as Nootbaar put it, when he was “never a ‘prospy’.”

Still, for all of the bells and whistles that come with technological innovations, the fundamental truths remain: swinging the bat hard and keeping the barrel in the zone will produce damage, and learning to repeat damage is the path to success in baseball.

St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Lars Nootbaar (21) looks on in the dugout prior to a game against the Chicago Cubs last season in St. Louis. This winter marked the second time Nootbaar journeyed up the Pacific coast for a four-day stay at Driveline’s industry-leading facility, bringing owner and teammate Nolan Arenado along with him both times.
St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Lars Nootbaar (21) looks on in the dugout prior to a game against the Chicago Cubs last season in St. Louis. This winter marked the second time Nootbaar journeyed up the Pacific coast for a four-day stay at Driveline’s industry-leading facility, bringing owner and teammate Nolan Arenado along with him both times.

Coveted trade piece

Given that Nootbaar has fewer than 500 Major League plate appearances under his belt, his meteoric rise in prominence among Cardinals hitters is notable. He’s been the only player named as an assumed starting outfielder this winter, despite Tyler O’Neill being a year removed from a top ten MVP finish and Dylan Carlson formerly spending years as the organization’s top ranked prospect.

He was highly coveted in trade talks for a catcher with the Oakland A’s and Toronto Blue Jays, and a fan vote conducted by MLB Network recently ranked him as the fourth best right fielder in the game, just ahead of Atlanta superstar Ronald Acuña, Jr.

Fan votes are, of course, subject to manipulation, and eye-popping Baseball Savant page or no, serious observers who’d rank Nootbaar ahead of Acuña are scarce. What’s plentiful, though, is the belief that a player who finished 2022 in the 80th percentile of hard hit rate, 90th percentile of average exit velocity, and 85th percentile of barrel frequency is on the verge of a major breakout.

What’s the role for Nootbaar?

His position is as of yet unsettled; with centerfield, by manager Oliver Marmol’s estimation, “wide open,” Nootbaar has been working there and in both corners this winter, even spending some time taking infield ground balls. He no longer surfs as often or intensely as he used to; a necessity, by his estimation, given his increased responsibilities and expectations.

Still on his agenda for the winter is a bat fitting, similar to the process Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Matt Carpenter underwent last winter as they transitioned to larger, hockey puck-style bat knobs. Nootbaar says he hasn’t yet converted, but is open to whatever his pending results suggest.

The ongoing rise is still a matter of adjustment. Nootbaar spent the 2020 season away from baseball, as so many did, doing manual labor in a machine shop for aviation parts. He entered 2021 off the radar. He entered 2022 as a big leaguer. He enters 2023 as a starter, and arguably, one of the team’s most popular players.

‘It’s a pretty janky operation’

He was amused to learn fans had paid for autograph tickets to meet him at Winter Warm-Up this weekend.

“Is that what’s going on?,” he asked. “I’m flying in, I don’t know what’s going on. I’m going with the flow.”

In that California warehouse, the pressure was a little higher.

“It’s a pretty janky operation, but we try to make the operation run as smoothly as possible. Quite frankly, it’s about as smooth as you might imagine,” Nootbaar said.

History suggests it’s on a trajectory to improve.