Inside The Cardinals

'Underrated' Cardinals Fan Favorite Predicted To Have Breakout Season In 2025

The St. Louis youngster is poised for an impressive campaign
Nate Hagerty|
May 8, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; A general view of the tarp on the field as storms move through the St. Louis region delaying a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
May 8, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; A general view of the tarp on the field as storms move through the St. Louis region delaying a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Mets at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

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St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals are on the verge of entering the 2025 season without making any significant additions to the big-league roster this winter.

This offseason was supposed to kick off St. Louis' rebuilding journey after Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak declared an organizational reset. Unfortunately, not much has changed and the club's youth core must lead the way going forward.

Fortunately, a young St. Louis fan favorite could be on the verge of breaking out of his shell in 2025. Hopefully, Cardinals fans find that the future isn't so bleak this year.

"Injuries have prevented a true breakout for the 27-year-old (Lars) Nootbaar," MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince wrote Tuesday after labeling Nootbaar as the league's most underrated right fielder. "In the last two seasons, he’s hurt himself sliding into bases, running into walls and even just swinging the bat. That’s no fun. But when able to take the field, Nootbaar has shown excellent plate discipline, leading to a 116 OPS+ over the last three seasons -- production basically on par with our left fielder, (Taylor) Ward."

Nootbaar has batted .246 with 113 extra-base hits including 45 home runs, 146 RBIs and a .773 OPS throughout his four-year career with the Cardinals.

"When you look at Nootbaar’s Baseball Savant page, you might note that he’s in the 82nd percentile or better in whiff percentage, average exit velocity, max exit velocity, hard-hit percentage, walk rate and chase percentage," Castrovince continued. "All this points to a breakout in the making for Nootbaar… if he can stop running into walls."

2024 was supposed to be Nootbaar's breakout season but as Castrovince mentioned, injuries prevented the beloved Cardinals youngster from seizing his full potential.

With expectations for this upcoming season low, Nootbaar will hopefully give Cardinals fans something to look forward to. As long as he remains healthy, 2025 could be an exciting year for the Southern California native.

More MLB: Cardinals Recently Engaged In Trade Discussions For Nolan Arenado With Red Sox

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Nate Hagerty
NATE HAGERTY

Nate Hagerty joined “Inside The Cardinals” as a content creator to spread knowledge about his favorite childhood team. A hometown native of Boston, Hagerty chose at an early age of six years old to follow the St. Louis Cardinals. The miraculous season of 04’ for the Red Sox did not deter Hagerty from rooting against his hometown team, nor did it in 2013 against the Red Birds. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding Inside The Cardinals, please reach out to Scott Neville: nevilles@merrimack.edu 

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