Bernie Show: A horse named Noot

This is a video about a horse named Noot. For the St. Louis Cardinals to improve offensively in a meaningful way in 2025, Lars Nootbaar will have to play enough to make a difference. Nootbaar draws a lot of walks, fuels the team's onbase percentage, and can hit for power. He can also play all three outfield positions. He isn't much of a base stealer, but I don't care about that. I dwell on what he does well. And when Nootbaar is healthy, he does many things well.

But that's the problem: over the past two seasons combined, he's missed 103 in-season days because of five stays on the injured list. Because of his many absences, Nootbaar hasn't provided the high-level impact he's capable of delivering. And that reduces his value. Can Nootbaar hold up in 2025 to make 140+ starts? And if he is physically able to play that much, will manager Oli Marmol wise up and put Nootbaar in the leadoff spot -- the obvious lineup location place where he belongs? Or will Marmol repeat the mistake he made last season when the Cardinals finished last in the majors with a .292 leadoff onbase percentage. Historically, that .292 leadoff OBP was much, much worse than it seems. In this video, I'll share an important statistical nugget to explain just how bad it was. Thanks for watching.