Last year was a baad year for Lars Nootbaar. Or was it?! Damn, Mr. Reversal, I honestly didn’t expect to see you here. Or did you?! No. Wait, what? You’re confusing me now. Or am I?! Yeah. Okay. So, I went trolling through Statcast for some potential outfielder sleepers and Nootbaar, straight from the Wawa counter, right out of the candy aisle in Costco with a BOOM. Oh no, I didn’t just reference Big Justice and AJ, but not The Rizzler, did I? Shame on me and seven generations of my ancestors. I have disrespected your memory maw-maw in the Costco allusion! Okay, let me give you a few Lars Nootbaar screenies (that’s what I call screenshots now). First, right fielders sorted by Average Exit Velocity:
Then sorted by Hard Hit%:
Lars Nootbaar fits into my new definition of Emoji with Hand on Chin like The Rizzler, he walks a decent amount, should be playing every day and doesn’t strike out a lot. One final screenie, the whole picture this time:
Does that look like Lars Nootbaar had a bad year? It doesn’t to me. So, what can we expect from Lars Nootbaar for 2025 fantasy baseball and what makes him a sleeper?
PSYCHE! My 2025 fantasy baseball rankings on the Patreon started last week and are ongoing. Don’t wait for the rankings to come out next month. Anyway II, the Lars Nootbaar sleeper:
Now, did I cherrypick out right fielders so Lars Nootbaar would be present in those screenies? P to the erhaps, but he’s still there, isn’t he? Not like I had Coolwhip do a Photoshop like this:
Lars Nootbaar was a popular pick last year. Well, now he’s very old. Oh, that’s not right. He just turned 27. He was a popular pick last year with people saying he would go 24/12/.275. Now his projections are way down to–Hold up. His projections are basically the same. Wow, that was a twist. Steamer has him down for 20/10/.254 in 135 games. No one trusts him to stay healthy, unfortch. Last year was particularly bad for health. He was out May 31st through July 8th with an oblique. How much did that hurt him in his return? Hard to say, but when he was further away from his injury in September, he went 4/2/.290. I won’t bring out Mr. Prorater on you, but that’s roughly, wait for it, crap, where did I put it, did I leave it in my other pants, oh, here it is! That’s a statline of 24/12. You might remember that as literally his projections. If you’re doing 24/12/.275 in 500 ABs, you’re a top 20 outfielder, as long as your runs and RBIs aren’t the dog’s doodie.
Bet on a guy who walks, doesn’t strike out and has power and speed. That’s what I always say after reading my own previous sentence. All you’re betting on with Lars Nootbaar is his health. Seems like an okay bet when his ADP is around 275! He’s being drafted after Jung Hoo Lee. Jung Who?! He’s being drafted after Hayden Birdsong. Sorry, but you’re getting Nootbaar for a song! Nootbaar’s priced as if it’s the day after Halloween. For 2025, I’ll give Lars Nootbaar projections of 72/23/75/.266/10 in 486 ABs with a chance for more.
