When browsing through a USC lineup card, you can easily find common last names expected on a baseball roster: Ramirez, Robinson, Martinez, and Davis just to name a few. The lineup becomes a whole lot more intriguing when you scroll past a name like "Lars Nootbaar" in the leadoff spot of the order.
"'Lars' is actually a great-great-great-grandfather's name; the whole two 'o', two 'a' thing in my last name is pretty [unique]," said a chuckling Nootbaar.
"It's a dutch last name. While it is a family name, just the way it's spelled and everything about it — paired with the fact that I'm half-Japanese — makes for a pretty different situation. It's definitely a different name, that's for sure."
As rare as the name Nootbaar may be, it is one quite familiar within the confines of USC's Dedeaux Field. Nootbaar's older brother, Nigel, pitched for the Trojans from 2012-2014 before being drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the 12th round of the 2014 MLB Draft.
Nootbaar's grandfather, Herbert, also has ties with the Trojan baseball program. As a philanthropist, Herbert Nootbaar has made major financial contributions to USC Baseball; the "Herbert V. Nootbaar Baseball Office & Hall of Fame Complex" is named after him.
During his time at El Segundo High School, Nootbaar was a standout two-sport athlete — in football and baseball — for the Eagles.
On the baseball diamond, he put together an accomplished high school career. Nootbaar was a three-time All-League MVP Award winner for El Segundo, and in his sophomore, junior, and senior years he posted batting averages of .485, .435, and .438 respectively. He also earned three selections to the All-CIF and All-State baseball teams during his career as an Eagle.
As the varsity starting quarterback for El Segundo, Nootbaar was a two-time League MVP (2013-2014) who led his team to an undefeated regular season and the CIF Semifinals in 2013.
Nootbaar committed to play baseball for USC after his sophomore year. Despite the early commitment to baseball, he elected to continue playing football as a junior and senior.
"After I committed to USC as a sophomore, there were a lot of questions about if I should (leave football and) just focus on baseball strictly and try to get drafted," he said.
"I loved football, and to this day I still love football … so continuing to play in high school was never really much of a question for me."
Upon arriving to USC, Nootbaar has made an instant impact for the Trojans baseball team. Having solely played infield in high school, he made a transition to the outfield to begin his college career and in order to get more playing time as well.
Nootbaar was the opening day center fielder for the Trojans in their match up against North Dakota. On Feb. 20, in just his second game for the men of Troy, he picked up his first collegiate hit and finished the game 2-for-2 with a run scored against North Dakota. By the conclusion of that opening series, Nootbar found himself as the Trojans' leadoff hitter in the order.
Nootbaar has hit in the leadoff spot for a majority of the Trojans contests so far in 2016. He got off to a solid start this spring, hitting at a .313 clip through the first nine games of the season.
"Getting moved up to the leadoff spot wasn't that big of a deal for me. I think it was a bigger deal to me knowing that the coaches had confidence in my ability to fill that opening spot in the lineup."
Nootbaar's Trojans (11-11) have won four of their last six contests — including victories over No. 17 UC Santa Barbara, No. 18 California, and Cal State Fullerton. In their most recent victory over Santa Barbara, the Trojans totaled nine runs on 14 hits.
"As of right now, our bats are really hot. We've been able to get some timely hits; Corey Dempster is in the lineup doing nothing but good things for us," said Nootbaar.
"Right now we are just finding multiple ways to win and really pulling for each other much more than we did early in the season."
As just a freshman, Nootbar has plenty of baseball remaining as a Trojan; he also has loads of ambition for what the team will accomplish over the course of his college career.
"Honestly, my only goal coming into this (program) was to win a national championship for USC," he said. "You can have good numbers, be an All-American, you can do this-and-that, but for me at least, all of that doesn't matter if you don't have a championship ring on your finger to show for all of it."
While a plethora of words can be jokingly thrown around when you have a name like "Lars Nootbaar", he hopes two words are forever attached to his surname: national champion.
Annenberg Media