3 Cardinals players who’ll be better in 2023, and 2 who won’t

Oct 8, 2022; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Lars Nootbaar (21) slides safely into second base for a double during the first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies in game two of the Wild Card series for the 2022 MLB Playoffs at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

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Oct 3, 2022; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; St. Louis Cardinals right fielder Lars Nootbaar (21) at the batting cage before the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

These three St. Louis Cardinals players will have a better year in 2023 while these other two will be just as good if not worse.

It’s a good time to be a St. Louis Cardinals fan. The NL Central is one of the worst divisions in baseball, and they have two of the league’s best players in Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. The Cardinals won the division in 2022 and look poised to repeat heading into this season. Despite the Willson Contreras addition, the Red Birds are likely not true World Series contenders without a lot of luck.

St. Louis has a potent lineup with the NL MVP in Goldschmidt and an MVP finalist in Arenado leading the way, but the starting rotation leaves a lot to be desired. Can 41-year-old Adam Wainwright be relied upon for another full season? Can Jack Flaherty finally stay healthy? These are just two of many questions that can be asked about this roster.

For the Cardinals to be true World Series contenders they’ll need some players on their roster to improve. These three players should be better while two others will likely be a little bit worse.

Why Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar will have a better year in 2023

The Cardinals were in trade rumors all offseason in both the starting pitching and catching markets. A player constantly thrown around in those rumors was Lars Nootbaar. Fortunately, the Cardinals did not ship off their rising star.

Nootbaar only played in 108 games this past season and his numbers don’t jump off the page, but Nootbaar should excel in an everyday role in 2023.

He slashed .228/.340/.448 with 14 home runs and 40 RBI. Nothing special, but not bad either. The thing with Nootbaar is he was much better than the numbers suggest.

A .246 BAbip brought his average down exponentially. He had a .379 wOBA with no shift, that number plummeted to .312 with the shift. With the shift out of play in 2023 and beyond, a lot of the hard-hit balls Nootbaar had right at defenders will be hits.

Nootbaar ranked in the 98th percentile in walk rate, walking 14.7% of the time. He did that while ranking in the 90th percentile in average exit velocity and the 89th percentile in max exit velocity according to baseball savant. He’s a player who doesn’t chase and when he puts the ball in play, hits it very hard. Sounds like a very good combination to me.

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