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JUPITER, Fla. — Back at the hotel for the evening along with his fellow Cardinals minor leaguers also in their first big league spring training, Lars Nootbaar saw his iPhone blink with a new message on the team-use app. He did a double take on the name.

Paul Goldschmidt, the first major league player Nootbaar approached, had buzzed with an apology — and an invitation.

Goldschmidt wrote that he may have hurried his talk with the young outfielder because he had a prior commitment. The All-Star suggested they meet the next day to discuss in greater depth. Nootbaar beamed. (“I was like, ‘I’m in,’� he said, “Let’s go!�) The conversation that happened outside the Cardinals clubhouse back in 2021 gave Nootbaar advice that shapes how he approaches spring four years later, and it gave him the answers to a question asked this past week inside the clubhouse.

Spring box scores can lie. How does a hitter judge a game?

“My first conversation with a big leaguer was Goldy, and the first thing he said was, ‘Where was the pitch that I swung at?’� Nootbaar said. “If it wasn’t in a good spot, I don’t even think about it. That’s a mental mistake. So that’s the checklist that I go through. Where was the pitch? Could I have done something with that pitch? Yes. And now look back at my mechanics.�

Understanding how a hitter judges a spring game — especially a game early in the exhibition schedule — leads to a bigger-picture query for the Cardinals.

How does a team judge an offense?

The Cardinals reached this past week’s off-day with an offense yet to thaw in Florida, and that comes after a season hampered by a lack of thump. Through their first nine spring games, the Cardinals had 50 hits and ranked 30th with a .184 average, a .297 on-base percentage and .316 slugging percentage. The hitters earmarked for the opening day roster had hit .144, and subtract Willson Contreras’ five hits and they hit .112 with a .181 slugging.

Ivan Herrera got his first hit of spring on Wednesday; two Cardinals, Masyn Winn and Michael Siani, entered Thursday looking for their second. The Cardinals were held to five hits in a 12-1 loss Thursday to Washington at Roger Dean Stadium. Contreras had two.

The Dean is a notoriously difficult place to hit (and the Grapefruit League always lags offensively behind the Cactus League). But the fences are in, and opponents play there, too. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ were batting .262. The Nationals rocked 13 hits, including a three-run homer by former Cardinal Paul DeJong.

Manager Oliver Marmol had a two-word take Tuesday on the sluggish statistics.

“Don’t care,� he said.

In the next three games, the Cardinals rapped 27 more hits, and they raised their average as a team to .206, their slugging up to .367.

“Same,� the manager shrugged Thursday when asked if strong numbers changed his view. He expanded: “Guys are working on something. They’re obviously game-planning for that starter taking place, but this is where guys are feeling what they’ve been working on in the offseason and bringing it into play. It takes time. Whether we hit three home runs today or none, doesn’t change the process. Since you asked that question, offense has looked a little different, so ask it more often.�

Marmol gave two specific examples from two young hitters off to the slowest starts of spring. Winn, who entered Thursday’s game 1 for 18, has been working on letting the pitch travel more, to give him more time to see it — a challenge at any point, let alone when his timing is early March rather than mid-May. Nolan Gorman, off to a 3-for-22 spring with eight strikeouts, has been focusing on “dialing in� his swing for the center of the field and eyeing the left-center gap to get more contact and plate coverage, “and (if) there is a hit or a double or a homer comes from it, so be it.�

Sidelined for a week by a knee injury, Jordan Walker stung three line drives in a game this past weekend and was not rewarded for it any of them with a hit. Brant Brown, the Cardinals’ new hitting coach, made sure that Walker celebrated the liners because he had not had three consecutive bolts like that “in a minute.�

As Brant said, there’s more for the hitter than “a plain old box score.�

“Spring training is always difficult to judge,� he said while watching the Cardinals do infield drills Thursday morning. “You have to take it with a grain of salt. I was not really pleased with our offensive performance at the beginning. The past few days have been better, but we also know baseball is always fluid. ... Our main message to players is it’s more about the execution of what you’re trying to do than the results. Because if you properly execute your game plan that is why it’s a game plan — the outcomes are more in your favor. That’s what is really important to me at this stage.�

Brown has placed an emphasis on situational hitting all spring.

Whatever the result, he wants to see the hitter’s approach reflect what is needed in the game — and some of this spring has been spent on education for the situation.

“I think situationally, we can be a little bit better,� Brown said. “Understanding the game and what’s happening in the game and knowing when to be a slugger and when to be a hitter.�

And there are times to be both.

Brand described how he has been talking with Nootbaar and Alec Burleson, two left-handed batters and strike-zone sticklers, about how to approach an at-bat with a runner on second base and the usual demand for a ball in play that nudges the runner to third.

“With Lars and Burly, when there’s a runner for them at second, we’re trying to get them to think, ‘I want to drive them over,’� Brant said, emphasizing the verb — drive. “And then worst-case scenario, you get them over. The best non-home-run play in baseball is the double-double. Trade places.�

The day before Monday’s break in the schedule, Nootbaar connected for a double down the left field line. He tagged a curveball that was over the plate for his first extra-base hit of the spring. Cue the checklist.

The pitch was one to drive.

He got the ball in the air and on a line.

His timing was late, but it’s early March.

“In a perfect world, that ball is in the right-center gap and it’s a sexy double,� Nootbaar said. “I have to understand that my body is in a better position right now to do that. That’s better than rolling over to the right side. After I’m on base or back in the dugout, why did that happen? I revisit what Goldy said.�

Like Nootbaar’s evaluation of his at-bats, so much of spring training happens in the batting cages or on the back fields for hitters that early games can be icebergs — there’s far more beneath the surface.

The Mets, with Home Run Derby champion Pete Alonso and $700 million man Juan Soto, are hitting .214 this spring with a .332 on-base percentage. Spring misleads. But more and more becomes apparent as the games grow closer and closer to the regular season. Spring also unfurls in phases. Between off-days, the Cardinals enter this stretch where timing arrives, lifting production with it.

That won’t be measured in agate type.

“Not so much box scores,� Marmol said, “as process.�