With Noot in prolonged slump, Cards looking at another leadoff option

MILWAUKEE -- Time and again, the game kept finding Cardinals leadoff hitter Lars Nootbaar on Friday night. And the harder that the struggling leadoff hitter pressed and tried to swing his way out of a prolonged slump, the worse the results got for him.

No player now embodies the recent struggles of the Cardinals more than Nootbaar, who struck out four times in five at-bats in Friday’s 3-2 loss to the Brewers.

Nootbaar’s importance to the Cardinals as their patient, yet potent leadoff hitter can be seen in what his slump has done to the team of late. The Cardinals six-game losing streak -- their longest since May of 2024 -- has coincided with Nootbaar scuffling through a 1-for-32 stretch with 17 strikeouts. In a solemn Cardinals clubhouse afterward, Nootbaar admitted that the drought has led to lots of sleepless nights and bouts of pressing at the plate.

“Yeah, a little bit [of pressing] if I’m being completely honest, and you know you’re at the top of the lineup and you want to do everything you can to help the team, and the main thing is feeling that you’re letting the guys down,” said Nootbaar, who struck out to end the game with speedster Victor Scott II on second base. “Being in that spot, you try to do more, and it really doesn’t help. Once I get out of this, I’ll probably look back and say I shouldn’t have pressed, but it’s just human nature.”

With former Cardinal left-hander Jose Quintana set to start Saturday afternoon’s game for the Brewers, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol intimated that the team would make a change at the top of the order. Masyn Winn, the Cardinals’ primary leadoff hitter last season and the fill-in on days when Nootbaar has gotten a rest, is expected to move into that spot at the top of the order on Saturday.

“Yeah, it is. I think so,” Marmol said when asked if a change could be coming at the top of the lineup on Saturday.

Nootbaar was hardly the only one who struggled on Friday against Milwaukee right-hander Freddy Peralta and three relievers, who combined to strike out 11, and they held the Cardinals to 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Alec Burleson, Nolan Arenado and Nolan Gorman doubled, and two of them scored for the team’s only runs.

The Cardinals are obviously missing No. 3 hitter Brendan Donovan, who missed his third straight game with a strained left big toe. Wearing a carbon fiber orthotic plate in his shoe to lessen the load on his big toe, Donovan took swings off the tee and the pitching machine and fielded some ground balls before Friday’s game. He will ramp up the intensity of those drills on Saturday, and the team is hoping he might be available by Sunday or Tuesday without having to go on the injured list.

Donovan, who is fourth in the NL in batting average (.310), tied for sixth in hits (77) and third in doubles (20), admitted that having to watch the games and be patient with his injury is torturous to him.

“I go stir crazy and, at one point, I think I sat on every bench and leaned on every rail,” Donovan said. “I walked to the [batting] cage and walked back. I went to the training room and did some rehab and came back. It’s weird to me.”

It is certainly weird for Nootbaar to struggle for as long as he has considering that he was a key cog in the team’s offensive machine during a stirring May. In March and April, he walked 25 times, and he’s opened games this season with a walk in an MLB-most 14 times. Even though he seemed to do a good job of controlling the strike zone, Nootbaar admitted he hasn’t felt comfortable since early March.

Those feelings have arisen in June where he is just 5-for-44 with 19 strikeouts compared to just six walks.

“I got to face it and I’m going through a tough stretch right now, and something’s off, and I’m trying to identify it,” Nootbaar said. “It’s uncommon for me to be struggling in this fashion. I’m trying to figure it out but I’ve had some long nights this week.”

Being more aggressive, Nootbaar thinks, might help. For example, he came into Friday hitting .311 (19-for-61) when he swings at the first pitch, but just .205 (41-for-200) as he works deeper in the count.

“Sometimes I’ll get a little too passive or too hesitant,” he said. “Ideally, when you’re seeing it well, you’re seeing it early. Right now, you want to swing your way out of it and do all you can.”