Lars Nootbaar
Lars Taylor-Tatsuji Nootbaar (born September 8, 1997) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2021. Early life and amateur career. Nootbaar grew up in El Segundo, California, and attended El Segundo High School, where he played baseball and football. He was a three-time League MVP in baseball and twice in football as the Eagles' starting quarterback. He committed to play college baseball at the University of Southern California (USC) and was recruited to play college football by UC Davis and Fordham . Nootbaar was a three-year starter for the USC Trojans, where his older brother Nigel had previously played. He was named All-Pac-12 Conference as a sophomore after hitting .313 with 34 RBIs, 33 runs scored and seven home runs. Following the season, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Orleans Firebirds of the Cape Cod Baseball League. As a junior, Nootbaar batted .249 with six home runs and 24 RBIs. Professional career. The St. Louis Cardinals selected Nootbaar in the eighth round of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft. After signing with the team he was assigned to the  State College Spikes of the Class A Short Season New York–Penn League, where he set a team record with seven RBIs in one game. For the season, he hit .227 with two home runs and 26 RBIs over 56 games. Nootbaar began the 2019 season with the Class A Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League before being promoted to the Class A-Advanced Palm Beach Cardinals of the Florida State League. He was promoted a second time to the Springfield Cardinals of the Class AA Texas League. Over 101 games between the three clubs, he batted .264 with seven  home runs and 38 RBIs. Nootbaar did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nootbaar began the 2021 season at the Cardinals' alternate training site before being reassigned to the Triple-A East Memphis Redbirds. He was placed on the injured list with a hand injury on May 28, and was activated on June 14. On June 22, 2021, Nootbaar was selected to the 40-man roster and promoted to the major leagues for the first time. At the time of his promotion, he was slashing  .329/.430/.557 with five home runs and 17 RBIs over 22 games. He made his MLB debut that day as the starting left fielder against the Detroit Tigers. The following day, Nootbaar recorded his first career hit, a triple. He hit his first career home run as a pinch-hitter off J. T. Brubaker in a 7-6 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 12, 2021. Nootbaar hit another pinch hit home run the next day in a 6-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals. On August 25, 2021, Nootbaar would record his first career walk-off hit, a  single in the 10th inning against Tigers relief pitcher Michael Fulmer. Nootbaar finished the 2021 season slashing .239/.317/.422 with five home runs and 15 RBIs over 109 at-bats. He was selected to play in the Arizona Fall League for the Glendale Desert Dogs after the season. Personal life. Nootbaar's father, who is American of Dutch descent, met his mother, who is Japanese, while they were students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. His older brother, Nigel, was a pitcher at USC and played professionally in the Baltimore Orioles system.