Much like Lars Nootbaar's entire tenure with the St. Louis Cardinals, 2025 has raised a lot of question marks about the ceiling he has as a player, and yet, there've been enough high points to give the Cardinals pause about cutting bait on their Statcast darling. So, is Nootbaar playing himself back into the Cardinals' plans moving forward?
Short answer: Maybe. Long answer: It's complicated.
The Cardinals made it clear that 2025 was about learning what they have in their young players. Have they done the best job at setting themselves up for success in learning those answers?