St. Louis Cardinals Outfielder Visits Former Team Ahead of WBC Quarterfinal

The World Baseball Classic has resulted in many teams being without several or many of their better players for a chunk of this spring.

The Cardinals have been without one of their projected, outfielder Lars Nootbaar, for the entire spring due to him undergoing offseason double-heel surgery.

Even Nootbaar, who’s still on the shelf, made a recent trip to the WBC.

The ailing outfielder visited Samurai Japan ahead of the team’s quarterfinal game against Venezuela on Saturday. The game is set to take place at 8 p.m. CT at loanDepot Park in Miami.

Nootbaar, who’s half Japanese on his mother’s side, competed for Samurai Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Nootbaar slashed .269/.424/.269 with a .693 OPS in seven games in the ’23 WBC and had four RBIs. Nootbaar and Samurai Japan won the gold medal in the ’23 iteration of the international tournament.

Nootbaar was originally picked in the eighth round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of Southern California (USC). He made his major league debut in 2021 and has been a focal part of the team’s roster since.

Nootbaar has a career slash line of .242/.341/.406 with a .747 OPS in 527 games. He’s hit 84 doubles, nine triples and 58 home runs with 194 RBIs.

The former USC product slashed .234/.325/.361 with a .686 OPS in 135 games with the Cardinals last season. He hit 24 doubles, a triple and 13 homers with 48 RBIs. Nootbaar’s RBIs and games played were both single-season career-highs.

Nootbaar is expected to miss a portion of the season due to his heel surgery. FanGraphs projects Nathan Church to start the season in left field in place of Nootbaar.

St. Louis is currently getting a look at several right-handed hitters this spring to platoon in the outfielder.

The three main candidates to break camp as the go-to right-handed outfield option are Jose Fermin, Thomas Saggese and Nelson Velazquez.

Saggese is currently away from the team competing for Italy in the WBC, which advanced to the semifinal round of the international tournament after an 8-6 win against Puerto Rico on Saturday.

Nootbaar may not be a part of this year’s WBC roster, but he still clearly has love for his former squad.

For the Cardinals, Saggese, Fermin, Velazquez and other players will be looking to carve out a more permanent role on the team in Nootbaar’s absence. There is not set timetable for Nootbaar’s return.

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St. Louis Cardinals Outfielder Visits Former Team Ahead of WBC Quarterfinal

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