Nootbaar (HR, double) gets a jump on offseason changes

DENVER -- Fresh off a meeting with Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol -- one in which frustrations over an unfulfilling season were aired both by the player and the skipper -- a relieved Lars Nootbaar showed immediate results with a home run and a double in his first two at-bats on Thursday afternoon.

Derailed early in the season by rib and oblique injuries and frustrated by his climbing ground-ball rate and his shrinking power production, Nootbaar sought to clear the air about the changes needed this offseason and expectations the Cardinals have for him. In some ways, it was a routine end-of-the-season review, but in others it was a much-needed venting session for the player the Cards still feel has high-end potential as a power producer.

• Could changes be afoot for Cards?

“It’s been a process, and it will continue to be that way,” Nootbaar said after the Cardinals’ bullpen yielded five runs in the eighth inning of a 10-8 loss to the Rockies at Coors Field. “I had a good meeting with Oli yesterday, and we shared some good things. It’s important that I came out of it happy with what was said.

“It’s just about making sure we have a plan with what the coaching staff wants to see out of me more and how we can attack that. Being able to hear that from them and then being able to express it while talking it over gives you more confidence while you are working on those things.”

Working on trying to lift the ball more to stay away from the rollover ground balls that plagued him so often this season, Nootbaar drilled a four-seam fastball from Kyle Freeland 384 feet for a homer in his first at-bat. Showing off his rare ability to whip the bat through the zone to create triple-digit exit velocity, Nootbaar spanked the ball with 105.7 mph exit velocity, per Statcast.

Marmol said he was excited about seeing Nootbaar net some results not long after they talked about him working on driving balls into the gaps and over the wall for more offensive damage.

“We’ve been talking quite a bit about him being on the ground and early in counts him being able to do more damage,” said Marmol, whose bullpen was shorthanded on Thursday after Andrew Kittredge and Matthew Liberatore were used in a win the night before. “He’s very selective, but early we need him to take his A swing. He was able to open up the game that way today, and it was good to see.”

Of concern for the Cardinals has been a ground-ball rate from Nootbaar that has gone from 46 % in 2022 to 50.5% in 2023 to 52.5% this season. That has kept Nootbaar’s potential for power -- 11 home runs, 18 doubles and two triples this year -- mostly in check over his 106 games played.

The inability to do damage -- particularly in spots with runners in scoring position -- sabotaged a season in which the Cardinals had hoped to be back in the playoffs.

Nootbaar, 27, had much higher expectations of himself, and that’s why he likely has a busy offseason ahead to make the swing changes he and the Cardinals feel he needs.

“You work on certain things to achieve certain goals, and sometimes you’ve got to do something different if you want different results,” said Nootbaar, whose 50 walks lead the team. “I think this offseason is going to be one for [change]. … It’s not going to be a complete swing overhaul or anything like that. A lot of it is intent and changing some things mechanical. I’ll be doing my research and trying to formulate a plan of attack.”

A run of good health in 2025 could be helpful for Nootbaar, who cracked two ribs early in Spring Training following a collision with the wall while trying to track down a fly ball. Finally healed from that injury, Nootbaar strained an oblique muscle in late May that cost him another six weeks.

“I’m not going to make any excuses like that led to anything, but I felt like I was in a good place heading into spring and then the ribs happened,” Nootbaar said. “I think I forgot some of the things that I was working on because I couldn’t do those movements.

“I tried to play catch-up a little bit, but it was my fault for not being a great self-evaluator. I needed to not forget certain things we worked on in the offseason. I have to learn from that and move forward.”