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Fame Burst

Who Are Lars Nootbaar Parents Charlie And Kumi Enokida? Family Details About The St. Louis Cardinals Outfielder

Author

Mason Cooper

Updated on March 29, 2026

Lars Taylor Tatsuji Nootbaar is a Major League Baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals. After being picked by the Cardinals in the eighth round of the 2018 MLB Draft, he spent four years in the minor leagues before making his MLB debut in 2021.

The athlete is a professional player whose great skills have drawn a lot of fans. Nootbaar was born and raised in El Segundo, California, and he played baseball at the University of Southern California for three years.

After being put on the 40-man roster on June 22, 2021, Nootbaar was sent to the major leagues for the first time. He made his debut in the major leagues on June 22, 2021, against the Detroit Tigers. In his first 22 games, he hit 329/.430/.557 with five home runs and 17 RBIs.

The next day, Nootbaar got his first hit as a pro. It was a triple. On August 12, 2021, he hit his first home run of the year off of J. T. Brubaker, but the Pittsburgh Pirates lost 7-6.

Lars Nootbaar
Lars Nootbaar

Charlie and Kumi Enokida’s son is Lars Nootbar

Nootbar was born on September 8, 1987, in El Segundo, California. His dad is Charlie Nootbar and his mom is Kumi Enokida. In the same way, Nootbaar is the great-grandson of a businessman and philanthropist named Herbert Nootbaar.

Herbert was one of the first people to invest in the Honkbal Hoofdklasse, which is the top level of baseball in the Netherlands. Lars had the best parents ever. They always supported him and helped him learn what he needed to know to pursue a career in sports.

Nootbaar went to El Segundo High School in El Segundo, California. There, he played football and baseball. While he was the Eagles’ starting quarterback, he won the League MVP award in football twice and in baseball three times.

Also, the athlete chose to play college baseball at the University of Southern California instead of college football at Fordham or UC Davis, which both offered (USC).

Lars started for the USC Trojans for three years. In his first season, he had a batting average of 313 and hit seven home runs. This helped him make the All-Pac-12 Conference team.

Lars Nootbar is German, right? Background in terms of race and family

Lars Nootbar’s father is German, so he does have German roots. In the same way, Lars’s father, Charlie Nootbar, has Dutch, English, and German roots. He was born in the United States and is of mixed ethnicity. Lars grew up with his parents, a brother, and a sister.

Kumi, his mother, is a Japanese citizen. His parents, two siblings, and I are all part of his family. In honor of his mother, the athlete was given the name Tatsuji. His mother’s family is also a big part of his background.

The fact that Lars posted a picture of the Japanese flag on his Instagram account shows that he is close to his mother. Lars’s Instagram handle is @lars.nootbaar11. He has a verified account, 18 posts, and more than 24.9K followers. Lars got his degree from the University of Southern California, according to his Instagram profile.

Nigel Nootbaar, his older brother, pitched for USC and played baseball professionally for the Baltimore Orioles. Nigel works as a marketing representative for Federated Insurance in Los Angeles.

Nicole Nootbaar, who is Lars’s sister, is also an assistant trainer at UC Davis. Her Master of Science in Athletic Training was given to her in 2019 by Champman University.

How much does Lars Nootbaar make for a living? Value in 2022

Lars Nootbaar’s salary is likely to be around $705,200 per year. The athlete is also likely to have a net worth of around $952,387. Nootbaar is an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball, the top baseball league in the United States.

Lars is also seen endorsing different brands, which adds to his net worth. He is in the growth stage of his career, so both his net worth and his income are always going up.

Based on his Instagram profile, people expect the athlete to live a good life and enjoy it to the fullest. He is also thought to help people in need in different ways.

Early life and starting out

Nootbaar grew up in El Segundo, California, and played baseball and football at El Segundo High School. When he played baseball, he won League MVP three times, and when he played football for the Eagles, he won it twice. He agreed to play baseball in college at the University of Southern California (USC). UC Davis and Fordham tried to get him to play football in college.

Nootbaar started for the USC Trojans for three years. His older brother Nigel also played for the Trojans. As a sophomore, he hit and was named to the All-Pac-12 Conference team. 313 with seven home runs, 34 RBIs, and 33 runs scored. After the season, he played college baseball in the summer for the Cape Cod Baseball League’s Orleans Firebirds. Nootbaar hit.249 as a junior, with six home runs and 24 RBIs.

Lars Nootbaar
Lars Nootbaar

Work as a professional

In the 2018 Major League Baseball draft, Nootbaar was picked by the St. Louis Cardinals in the eighth round.

After signing with the team, he was sent to the Class A Short Season New York–Penn League to play for the State College Spikes. There, he set a team record by getting seven RBIs in one game.

He played in 56 games and hit.227 with two home runs and 26 RBIs. Nootbaar started the 2019 season with the Class A Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League. He was then moved up to the Class A-Advanced Palm Beach Cardinals of the Florida State League. He was moved up a second time, this time to the Class AA Texas League’s Springfield Cardinals. Between the three teams, he played 101 games and hit.264 with seven home runs and 38 RBIs. [10] In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to the minor league baseball season.

Nootbaar started the 2021 season at the Cardinals’ alternate training site before being sent to the Triple-A East Memphis Redbirds.

He was put on the injured list on May 28 because he hurt his hand. On June 14, he was able to play again.

On June 22, 2021, Nootbaar was put on the 40-man roster and given his first job in the major leagues.

At the time he was moved up, he had played in 22 games and hit.329/.430/.557 with five home runs and 17 RBIs. He started in left field against the Detroit Tigers on his first day in the Major Leagues. The next day, Nootbaar got his first hit, a triple, which was also his first hit ever. On August 12, 2021, he hit his first home run as a pinch-hitter against J.T. Brubaker in a 7-6 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. [18] The next day, in a 6-0 win over the Kansas City Royals, Nootbaar hit another pinch-hit home run. On August 25, 2021, Tigers relief pitcher Michael Fulmer gave Nootbaar his first walk-off hit, a single in the 10th inning. At the end of the 2021 season, Nootbaar had a batting line of.239/.317/.422 with five home runs and 15 RBIs in 109 at-bats. After the season, the Glendale Desert Dogs picked him to play in the Arizona Fall League.

Nootbaar has become a favorite among St. Louis residents. “NOOT!” is shouted at him every time he comes up to bat or does something on the field.

Personal life

While they were both students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Nootbaar’s Dutch, English, and German-American father met his Japanese mother. Nigel, his older brother, was a pitcher at USC and went on to play for the Baltimore Orioles organization. Lars Nootbaar is the great-grandson of businessman and philanthropist Herbert Nootbaar, who was an early investor in the Honkbal Hoofdklasse, the highest level of professional baseball in the Netherlands.

DETROIT — Lars Nootbaar, the Cardinals’ new left-handed-hitting outfielder who made his major league debut on Tuesday night, is a candy bar waiting to happen, if he does anything at all in the majors.

He was joking when he said, “That’s what we’re working on.”

But despite his name, he is not as European or Dutch as you might think. His middle name is Taylor-Tatsuji. The second part of this name is in honor of his Japanese mother, Kumi.

The 23-year-old Nootbaar told the story outside of the Cardinals’ dugout before Tuesday’s game:

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound man said, “The Nootbaar thing kind of throws everyone for a loop, but most of my ethnicity comes from my mom’s side.”

Charlie Nootbaar met his future wife when they were both students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Nootbaar was studying Japanese and Kumi was there on a foreign exchange.

Charlie Nootbaar acted quickly and called Kumi, the only person he knew in Japan. “They got back together,” Lars Nootbaar said. Charlie stayed with Kumi’s family while he was in Japan, and they have been together ever since. “For my dad, it was kind of sink or swim,” Nootbaar said with a laugh.

The Cardinals wanted more left-handed power, especially in the outfield, so they brought Nootbaar up from Class AAA Memphis and sent Lane Thomas, who was only hitting.104, back to Memphis. So that they could make room on their 40-man roster for Nootbaar, the Cardinals sent out left-handed pitcher Bernardo Flores Jr., who had been with Memphis and the Cardinals for a short time.

In 2018, Nootbaar was picked by the Cardinals in the eighth round out of USC. He was making hits. In 22 games at Memphis, he hit.329 with five home runs and 17 RBIs. He was on the injured list for 16 days after hurting his right hand, but he just got off of it a little over a week ago.

“It was swinging in a strange way,” he said. “I missed a pitch, and my top hand kind of fell off the bat, so I used my right hand to try to stop it. But it wasn’t a big deal.”

Nootbaar did well in the short time he played during spring training. Before going to Memphis, he spent about a month at the alternate site camp in Sauget. Last year, there were no minor league games, and Nootbaar didn’t do much baseball-wise because he wasn’t sent to the alternate site in 2020.

Nootbaar said, “I was getting up at 4 a.m. six days a week to do manual labor at an aerospace engineering company. I moved equipment around so fighter jets could be fixed.”

Nootbaar said, “I used to clock in at 4:45 in the morning and work until 3.” “My parents told me I should get a job, so I did.

Nootbaar, who worked and went to school at the same time, said, “It definitely made me feel small and made me realize how much I loved baseball.”

Even Nootbaar is shocked that he is in the major leagues a year after not playing any baseball at all after spring training in 2020. He said, “Yes, for sure.” “A year ago, I was lifting things and drilling holes, but now I play in the major leagues in Detroit. It’s pretty interesting.”