Cardinals receive great news on Lars Nootbaar as he nears return to help team contend

While the St. Louis Cardinals continue to shock the baseball world with their early-season winning ways, they are trending toward getting Lars Nootbaar back in their lineup by the end of the month. Cardinals' manager Oliver Marmol told reporters today that they expect Nootbaar to play in rehab games starting the week of May 10th, putting him on track to return near that May 24th, like they had been hoping. He may need an additional week, but either way, he's close to returning.

Nootbaar began the season on the 60-day injured list due to double heel surgery this offseason, a procedure that looks to address issues that had been plaguing him for years. The earliest he can return from the injured list is May 24th, and so the Cardinals were hoping he could begin his rehab assignment toward the beginning of May in order to be ready to return right away.

The Cardinals are 19-13 at the time of this news, just 1.5 games back of the National League Central lead and in sole possession of the third Wild Card. They've been winning games due to their highly productive offense, and Nootbaar can actually slot in and replace their least productive spot in their lineup.

When Lars Nootbaar returns, Victor Scott II will likely head to the Cardinals bench

While the Cardinals' lineup as a whole has been a top 10 unit in the sport so far, Victor Scott II is really struggling, posting a 30 wRC+, which means he's 70% less productive than the league-average hitter this year. That's really, really bad. Nathan Church, on the other hand, has been really solid so far, posting a 91 wRC+ while mostly playing in left field, but he is a great defender who can slot over in center field when Nootbaar returns.

If the Cardinals do that, Nootbaar has been a 110 wRC+ bat in his career, and when he's healthy, he produces more like a 120 wRC+ bat. That would make him the clear fifth-best bat in their lineup, replacing their worst bat, an 80-point swing in wRC+, which is a wild improvement. Every player in the Cardinals' lineup outside of Church and Nolan Gorman would be an above-average bat.

We'll see where the Cardinals are in the standings when Nootbaar returns, but if they keep this pace up, his return to the lineup will be a massive boost to a team already thriving. Hey, it's like making a trade! And who knows? If he plays well and the club is contending, maybe they'll hold off on trading him until the offseason to see where this team can go this season.

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