Why have the St. Louis Cardinals continued to play Lars Nootbaar every day this season?
It’s a question many Cardinals fans have been asking as Nootbaar’s once-promising start has cooled significantly, leaving him with a .229/.335/.371/.706 slash line heading into Saturday.
Despite being mired in the worst slump of his career, the Cardinals are choosing to give Nootbaar consistent playing time—not necessarily because he’s producing, but because they need to evaluate him for future roster decisions. In short, they’re placing long-term insight over short-term results.
As The Athletic’s Katie Woo explained in a recent mailbag, the Cardinals see Nootbaar as a key developmental focus moving forward.
“If (Jordan) Walker and (Nolan) Gorman were priority No. 1 this season, then think of Nootbaar as priority 1A,” Woo said. “He’s always been part of the developmental plan, though the organization’s main concern was more about his ability to stay healthy than his performance.”
“Nootbaar has done well to remain on the field this season, which has been a major focus for both him and the team,” she added.
Lars Nootbaar
He’s well aware that the team is closely monitoring his performance this season to determine his future role. That’s why manager Oli Marmol has kept penciling Nootbaar into the lineup, even as he endures arguably the roughest stretch of his career at age 27. Like Jordan Walker and Nolan Gorman, Nootbaar is part of the Cardinals’ evaluation process—they need to see whether he can adjust and push through adversity at the big-league level, and the only way to assess that is by giving him consistent playing time.
The Cardinals have made it clear they’re committed to evaluating Nootbaar’s long-term value. As Katie Woo noted, durability has been one of the biggest hurdles in his career. A series of injuries—ranging from oblique strains to wrist and back issues—limited him to just 347 games between 2021 and 2024, preventing the organization from getting a complete picture of his upside.
This year, though, he’s managed to stay on the field, appearing in almost every game through mid-June.
The team still sees Nootbaar as a potential everyday outfielder and is clearly hoping he can rebound from his current slump.
Ultimately, the Cardinals’ approach with Nootbaar underscores a broader organizational philosophy: prioritizing development and future roster clarity over immediate wins. It’s a sensible path, especially given that—even with a better-than-expected record—St. Louis isn’t realistically in World Series contention this year.
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