Lars Nootbaar Return Plan Finally Set for Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals outfielder has been working his way back after undergoing offseason surgery on both heels.

Sep 6, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar (21) makes the catch on a fly ball to left field by San Francisco Giants catcher Patrick Bailey (14) in the second inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Vizer-Imagn Images | Tim Vizer-Imagn Images

The St. Louis Cardinals aren't at full strength in the outfield right now, but we now finally have a potential date for that to change.

Lars Nootbaar underwent surgery on both of his heels this past offseason. Nootbaar had surgery to correct Haglund's deformities on both of his heels. That's certainly not a common injury you hear about around baseball. Because of that, there was uncertainty for a while about how much time Nootbaar would actually miss. That's especially the case when you take into account the fact that it was both of his heels, not just one.

While this is the case, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch shared the best update possible on Friday and noted that the current expectation is that Nootbaar will be activated off the 60-Day Injured List the first day that he is eligible to on May 24.

"The plan is to have him rejoin the team the first day he is eligible, which is May 24," Goold wrote.

Lars Nootbaar Great News

Aug 31, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar (21) high fives teammates after scoring on a sacrifice fly out hit by designated hitter Ivan Herrera (not pictured) in the third inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images | Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

That is awesome news for St. Louis. Now, of course, we still have one month left to go until May 24 gets here. There could always be setbacks, but this is the most optimistic update that has dropped about Nootbaar since he underwent the surgeries in the first place this past offseason.

If the Cardinals can stay the course of the next month, they could be dangerous when Nootbaar is back in the lineup. Right now, the Cardinals are 14-10 on the season and they haven't gotten a lot of offensive production out of two of the three outfield spots. Jordan Walker has been great in right field, but neither Nathan Church nor Victor Scott II has fully gotten it going. Both of these two will have a month to put it together before Nootbaar comes in and nabs a spot. Church is slashing .236/.295/.364 with two homers and eight RBIs. Scott is slashing .197/.254/.213 with four RBIs and three stolen bases.

With Nootbaar, the Cardinals know what they have. When he is healthy and at his best, he's going to hit double-digit homers, rack up 40 or more RBIs and hit around .250 or more. Plus, he can add some speed to the base paths. In 2025, he wasn't at his best in part because of the Haglund's deformities. He still slashed .234/.325/.361 with 13 homers, 48 RBIs and 64 walks in 135 games played. But he wasn't much of a threat to steal bases. He only had four steals.

The Cardinals are going to be a better team when Nootbaar is ready to go and it sounds like he will be back on May 24, unless something changes.