Lars Nootbaar is front and center, ready to embody the Cardinals' new identity

"A good leadoff man sets the tone of the game. He sets the table, as I call it, and also can arrange the way the other players sit at the table. He jump-starts things, is an igniter. You usually can't rattle a leadoff guy." - Baseball Hall of Famer and St. Louis Cardinals legend Lou Brock.

While the way the look of a leadoff hitter has changed quite a bit since Brock's heyday, the task remains the same: Set the tone. Set the table. Jump-start the action. Ignite your teammates. Be unflappable.

Lars Nootbaar has been cast as the St. Louis Cardinals' leadoff hitter to begin the 2025 season, and while that responsibility plays out on the field, the Cardinals are hoping to see those same attributes that make Nootbaar a great leadoff man displayed in him when he's not in the batter's box as well.

2025 is a transition year in Cardinals baseball, and guys like Nootbaar get to define what the start of this coming era will look like. Yes, the "big picture" changes related to the front office won't fully take shape until this coming offseason, but I think it's fair to say that the Chaim Bloom tenure in St. Louis will be heavily influenced by the results and trends that emerge from the 2025 campaign.

There is a youthful energy with this Cardinals club. Thursday was the youngest Opening Day lineup they've had in 44 years, and while Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado, and Sonny Gray play large roles this year, it's the young core that will truly define where this organization is trending come season's end. And that trend will set the tone, or the table, for what the next era of the St. Louis Cardinals will mold into.

Nootbaar is positioned to be the organization's igniter, and what 2025 will answer for us is whether his influence ends up being positive or negative toward the direction they head in.

Lars Nootbaar is the Cardinals' table-setter in 2025, both in the batter's box and in the clubhouse.

Nootbaar, more than any other player on this roster, has the personality, aura, moxie, and energy needed to move this club into a freer style of baseball. One where mini bird-flapping celebrations fill the base paths when the club is hitting. A brand of baseball that is aggressive and assertive. Where smiles fill the dugout and the players on this roster truly embrace this "kids' game" they get the honor of playing at the highest level.

Relentless is a word that will be used to describe this club a lot in 2025, and Nootbaar himself has to own that and lead out with that if the Cardinals are going to become that. Cardinals' manager Oliver Marmol seemed to think Thursday was a great first step in that direction, "I think that tone was set months ago, and we’re now going to be able to put it into action, You can talk about all of these different words of being electric and bringing energy and relentless and then actually doing it? And they did exactly that. Running all over the field. Making plays. Stealing bases. Our at-bats like that is what a relentless at-bat looks like, one through nine."

At the plate, Nootbaar is tasked when acting as the ignition, tinder, and kindling to get a fire going with what was a lifeless offense in 2025. The Cardinals' leadoff men ranked 29th in on-base percentage and 26th in wRC+ in 2024 while the offense as a whole ranked in the bottom third in baseball at doing what it is tasked to do: score runs. It's certainly worth noting that Nootbaar was never tasked with leading off the game last season.

When Nootbaar has been pegged as the club's table-setter, he's excelled in that role, posting a .358 OBP, .467 SLG, .826 OPS, and 125 wRC+ in 404 plate appearances. He certainly helped that case even further on Opening Day with his 2-4 performance and mashing a two-run homer to help propel the Cardinals to a 5-3 victory.

We've all grown accustomed to Nootbaar's fun-loving personality. He's the guy blowing bubbles during a player hype video on the scoreboard. He's the player botching the order of trucks during the Opening Day ceremonies, causing him to have to jump out of his truck at the end and jump into Phil Maton's to get things back on track. Nootbaar is the guy who can get a serious personality like Nolan Arenado out of his shell and laugh with the guys. He's the guy that the spotlight is drawn toward, who invites curtain calls in for himself and his teammate. And the Cardinals are going to need him to continue to be that guy moving forward.

As the Cardinals search for an identity, it is pretty clear that Brendan Donovan has emerged as a clear leader in the clubhouse. He mirrors the kind of leader that Paul Goldschmidt seemed to be in many ways, but Donovan has a knack for relating to and motivating both the young players and older veterans on the roster.

Nootbaar brings a different kind of leadership to this club, but like every good leadoff hitter, the tone he sets will either jump-start the group in that clubhouse or cause it to sputter all year long. The only thing that seems to rattle Nootbaar is the injury bug, and he's on a mission to prove he can overcome that this season.

When Marmol made the decision to move Masyn Winn out of the leadoff spot and establish Nootbaar as the man for the job to start 2025, the move made so much baseball sense, but it also signifies a deeper and equally important responsibility for Nootbaar this year. He's the straw that stirs the drink, the first player to emerge from the dugout when the lineup goes to work. The more Nootbaar succeeds in his role, the likelier this group that is behind him will follow suit.

Nootbaar doesn't necessarily need to be the Cardinals' best player this year, but the pressure is on him to be right up there. It doesn't mean Nootbaar needs to be one of their best players in the future, but he has every opportunity to establish himself as that. Nootbaar has the difficult task of igniting a flame in the Cardinals lineup and clubhouse in 2025, and if he does so, the ceiling of this team is higher than many would think.

Yes, the Cardinals need stars badly. While I don't think it's impossible for Nootbaar to become one, he's much more likely to be a very good, sometimes All-Star-level player than a superstar that the team can be carried by. But I fully believe in Nootbaar's ability to produce in a big way in 2025 while also igniting a movement among this team, and that impact, should it happen, could reverberate for years to come.