Why is Lars Nootbaar playing for Japan in WBC? California-born outfielder honors mother’s heritage
Lars #Lars
Japan routinely has top homegrown talent on its World Baseball Classic teams. In fact, before the 2023 iteration of the WBC, the Samurai had never had a player born outside of Japan suit up as part of their squad for the tournament.
That changed in 2023 when Lars Nootbaar was called upon to help Japan win.
Nootbaar, a 25-year-old center fielder for the Cardinals, was added to Team Japan’s roster for the 2023 WBC. He has posted a slash line of .318/.483/.318 while performing well in the field during Japan’s run to the championship game.
Now, Nootbaar and his teammates will look to earn one more win to become champions of the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
But as some Team USA fans watch Tuesday night’s game, they will have one question at the forefront of their minds. How is Nootbaar eligible to play for Japan? After all, he was born and grew up in El Segundo, California, and has never lived in Japan.
The answer to that is a simple one. It’s all about what the WBC allows and does not allow in its rulebook.
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Why is Lars Nootbaar playing for Japan in the World Baseball Classic?
Nootbaar is eligible to play for Japan because he has Japanese heritage from his mother’s side of the family.
Kumi Enokida, Nootbaar’s mother, was born and raised in Japan. She came to the United States on a college exchange program and met Nootbar’s father, Charlie, while studying at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
The youngest Nootbar has acknowledged that people are often surprised when he reveals his ethnicity.
“The Nootbaar thing kind of throws everybody for a loop,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in June of 2021. “But the majority of my ethnicity comes from my mom’s side.”
Indeed, Nootbaar’s mother is fully Japanese while his father is an American of Dutch, English and German descent. That makes Nootbaar’s ancestry predominantly Japanese.
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How Lars Nootbaar’s parents met
As mentioned, Nootbaar’s parents met while studying at Cal Poly SLO, where both were students. Kumi was there on an exchange program while Charlie studied at the college.
However, it wasn’t until later that they got together. Kumi had gone back to Japan and Charlie went to the country to continue his studies. There was just one problem with his plan.
“At the last second, the host family dropped out,” Lars Nootbaar explained to the Post-Dispatch.
As such, Charlie called Kumi, who was the only person he knew in Japan, “and they re-kindled,” per Lars Nootbaar, as Charlie spent time with Kumi’s family in Japan.
“They’ve been together ever since. It was kind of sink-or-swim for my dad,” Nootbaar said.
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What are the requirements to represent a country in the WBC?
Baseball keeps its requirements to represent a country in the World Baseball Classic fairly broad.
Obviously, players born in a country are eligible to play for that country in the event. However, there are other elements that will allow a player to play for a different country.
Nootbaar’s case falls under the umbrella that requires having either a parent or grandparent born in that nation. Other notable methods include living in a country full-time and acquiring citizenship — as Cuba-born outfielder Randy Arozarena did so he could play for Mexico.
In essence, if a player is eligible to receive citizenship for a country, then they are allowed to represent that country. They don’t even necessarily have to acquire citizenship to be a part of the team.
Either way, Nootbaar is grateful for his experience playing for Japan. And he explained that his extended family and Japanese relatives were elated to see him join the Samurai for the 2023 WBC.
“They’re proud,” Nootbaar said, per the Associated Press. “It’s cool for me too to be able to do that for them. I don’t get to talk to them very often, to see them very often. To be able to connect me and my family together from opposite sides of the world. It’s a pretty special moment for me.”