Brandon Brown
The St. Louis Cardinals placed outfielder Lars Nootbaar on the injured list Friday with an oblique strain. In a corresponding move, they called up infielder José Fermín from Triple-A Memphis. Nootbaar suffered an injury from a hit he took during the closing moments of Wednesday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds.
Nootbaar, 26, has been one of the Cardinals’ most productive hitters this season. In 39 games to date, he is batting .234/.337/.404 (113 OPS+) with five home runs and three stolen bases. He was particularly effective in May, posting an .845 OPS with seven extra-base hits in 22 games. Nootbaar’s contributions were worth about 0.8 Wins Above Replacement, according to calculations presented at Baseball Reference.
Nootbaar’s injury comes at a less than ideal time for the Cardinals. They have successfully overcome a poor start to the season by winning seven of their last eight games and 17 of their last 30. The Cardinals, now 27-27 on the year, will enter the weekend in second place in the National League Central. Unfortunately, their immediate schedule is unfavorable: they will play a weekend series against the Philadelphia Phillies, MLBThe team’s best team, before facing the Houston Astros club, who were also 17-13 in their last 30 games after an equally miserable opening sequence. All six games will take place away from home.
The Cardinals did not provide a timeline for when they expect Nootbaar to return to the lineup. The Baseball Prospectus database suggests that the average player misses about five weeks when diagnosed with an oblique strain. That said, oblique deformations are notoriously tricky, and it’s possible that Nootbaar loses more (or less) time than the average bear. The Cardinals will have to wait and see.
With Nootbaar out, the Cardinals appear likely to deploy an outfield that includes Michael Siani in center and some combination of Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson and Dylan Carlson in the corners. Carlson, who has struggled offensively this season in admittedly limited numbers, has started just eight of his 18 games to date.
It’s perhaps notable that the Cardinals didn’t bring back former top prospect Jordan Walker, drafted earlier this year after his slow start at the plate. Walker hit .277/.321/.376 in 25 games at Triple-A. Surprisingly, given that he has near-elite raw power, he has yet to hit a home run in 176 combined trips to base. It’s understandable, then, why the Cardinals might feel he needs to work more on his swing in the minors before he’s once again ready for big league duty.
Fermín, 25, has played 30 games in the big leagues since last season. He hit .227/.338/.242 (64 OPS+) in those contests. He should be deployed as a reserve.
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