It's just a weird change to the pattern of Cardinals rookies. Just big, strapping guys with bland-ass names coming into the lineup and changing everything. Harrison Bader. Tyler O'Neill. Tommy Edman. Dylan Carlson. Brendan Donovan. Nolan Gorman.
...Lars Nootbaar.
That's...that's an odd little shift there.
When Lars Nootbaar came up last year and immediately struggled, I...knew what it was. You know, 'oh brother, a Cardinals rookie is gonna be bad at baseball for a bit just to give everybody else a chance and then BAM he'll be amazing'. And that's exactly what happened. It took him a bit, but since being called up this year, Nootbaar has 11 home runs and 35 RBIs, in addition to filling the Bader-sized defensive hole [that the Yankees have to wait another two weeks to even get a taste of]. And, of course, Nootbaar is the third rookie this year, after Nolan Gorman and Brendan Donovan, to add a genuine spark to the Cardinals lineup. Woo hoo.
What's even worse is that the Cards keep calling people up and they keep just fitting. Now Alec Burleson is up and he's got eyes on him as he begins to get hits. Juan Yepez may be back in the minors now but he got 11 home runs while he was here. This is what the Cardinals do, they're just bringing up people like Burleson and Matthew Liberatore and just teasing them. Like 'oh yeah, these guys will be ready soon, might wanna prepare for that'. And meanwhile they have frigging Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Tommy Edman all killing it in the majors.
It really does piss me off how good the Cardinals' organization is. Lars Nootbaar is only the latest can't-miss prospect they've brought up that has refused to miss. Like, between Kyle Lewis, Evan White and Jarred Kelenic, the Mariners WISH they'd had that kind of luck [though they're not exactly complaining right now]. And now they're 8 or so games ahead of the Brewers, looking at a nice playoff seed that, with my luck, would absolutely put them against the Phillies [I know it's gonna look like this won't happen for a while but I know this is what's fated to happen]. The team's looking good, the youth is making the difference, and there might be some deep October action in this team's future.
I just have to learn to be okay with it.
Coming Tonight: Kinda awesome timing that this guy came off the IL and started surging the moment Justin Verlander got injured.
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