Lars Nootbar is Taking Japan by Storm

Image by Eugene Hoshiko | AP Photo

One of the fun stories of the World Baseball Classic thus far has been the injection of Lars Nootbaar into Team Japan. He has been a lightning rod for their team and even though the WBC is just getting started, there have been many memorable moments from Nootbaar. Lars was not very familiar with Japanese culture until recently and his only familial connection to the country is through his mother, who is from Japan. He is also the first player in Team Japan’s history to play for the club and not be born in Japan. There is certainly a strange story to how Nootbaar has gotten this opportunity. He was dmed on Instagram by Shohei Otani’s interpreter (Ippei) and was asked indirectly by Hideki Kuriyama (Japan’s Manager) if he had any interest in joining the team. Lars ultimately said yes, and his journey to becoming a fan favorite in Japan began.

Image by the Saint Lous Cardinals

From the start, fans knew that Nootbaar was it, he took the country by storm with his “pepper-grinder” celebration and it is now the calling card of team Japan. There was also a soundbite of him listening into a team meeting in the dugout and promptly asking the cameraman what any of the words meant. We are used to seeing players of Asian descent come to the MLB and not understand English but it was ironic to see someone who only speaks English trying to understand Japanese. Nootbaar has certainly not let the language barrier affect his success as he has been having fun during the tournament and has been a huge factor in Japan’s success thus far. He has had an RBI single and made a couple of spectacular catches in the outfield for Team Japan.