A Poor Injury Update on St. Louis Cardinals' OF Lars Nootbaar

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar is still experiencing discomfort with his injured back, which is bad news for a St. Louis team trying to stay in the National League Central race.

The St. Louis Cardinals got a poor injury update on Friday regarding starting outfielder Lars Nootbaar.

He's been on the injured list since the end of May with a back issue and is still experiencing discomfort.

The following comes from the Yahoo! Sports fantasy baseball portal:

Lars Nootbaar is still feeling discomfort in his back while swinging the bat.

Advice: Nootbaar took a few light swings off of a tee on Thursday and indicated that he's still dealing with discomfort. The Cardinals obviously aren't going to push him until he feels that he is ready, so he's still a ways away from a potential return to the active roster. Nootbaar has been shelved since May 30 due to a lower back contusion.

Nootbaar is hitting .266 for the Cardinals in 154 at-bats this year. In addition to this injury, he missed some time at the beginning of the year as well.

He's added four home runs, 21 RBI and five stolen bases while getting on base at a .380 clip.

A popular player, Nootbaar gained international notoriety this spring when helping Team Japan win a championship at the World Baseball Classic. His mom also went viral for appearing on Mother's Day coverage on ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball."

The Cardinals entered play on Friday at 26-37. They are in last place in the National League Central and are 8.0 games back of first place. They are 7.0 games back in the wild card race.

At the time of this posting, the Cardinals and Reds are tied 0-0 in the bottom of the first.

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