Nathan

Church

Church’s homer off Chris Paddack was his second of the year. He’s batting .231/.281/.365, and he doesn’t project to get a whole lot better than that. The Cardinals are treating him as their best option in left field against right-handers, but they still might send down Thomas Saggese and give Bryan Torres or Cesar Prieto a look there before Lars Nootbaar returns.

The rookie now has his first steal of the season to go along with six RBI and seven runs scored. He’s slashing just .205/.238/.308 on the season, so he doesn’t belong on fantasy radars yet, but he showed good batting averages and speed in the minors so perhaps he works his way into the discussion.

That’s unexpected. It’d been clear for a couple of weeks that Nootbaar would open up on the IL following his heel surgeries, but it was supposed to be the 10-day. Nootbaar has been hitting and throwing since the beginning of the spring and recently resumed running, but we take it that didn’t go as well as hoped. Nathan Church, Thomas Saggese and José Fermín will divvy up his at-bats for at least the first two months.

Wetherholt has an opportunity to break camp on St. Louis’ season-opening roster with a strong performance in Grapefruit League play and possesses the advanced hit tool and emerging power skillset to be a colossal fantasy difference-maker at a relatively weak second base position group. The 23-year-old top prospect batted .306/.421/.510 with 17 homers and 23 steals in 109 games in the upper minors last season and could split time between third base and the keystone with defensive wizard Masyn Winn occupying shortstop. It feels like only a matter of time before he ascends to the top of manager Oli Marmol’s lineup card as a top-of-the-order spark plug. The other interesting name to watch is power/speed combo threat Joshua Baez, who broke out with a 16-homer, 34-steal campaign at Double-A Springfield last year. Here’s the full lineup: Winn (SS), Alec Burleson (1B), Nolan Gorman (3B), Pedro Páges (C), Wetherholt (2B), José Fermín (LF), Nathan Church (CF), Baez (RF) and Blaze Jordan (DH).

The 25-year-old outfielder plated Jordan Walker with an RBI single to cap a three-run uprising off of Jose Quintana in the second inning. That would be the extent of their offense in the ballgame and proved to be just enough to secure the victory. Church has struggled in his limited action with the Cardinals this season, slashing .184/.268/.265 with one homer, eight RBI and one stolen base in 58 plate appearances.

Walker had a big homer Thursday, but he’s 0-for-15 with seven strikeouts since. The Cardinals are using Nathan Church in right with Victor Scott II back patrolling center tonight.

Scott, out since August 17 with a sprained ankle, went 1-for-8 on a three-game rehab assignment. He’s not in today’s lineup, but he’ll likely return to being the Cardinals’ primary center fielder, with Nathan Church heading to the bench. Both are left-handed hitters, so there’s no good way for them to share time.

Church was 0-for-15 to start his big league career before a single in the fifth inning. The next time he came up, he hit a two-run home run off Adrian Houser that left the bat at 104.3 mph. Church was hitting .329 in 385 plate appearances in the minors before his call-up and he can certainly hit the ball hard, making him a name to watch over the rest of the season.

Church is in center field and batting ninth on Sunday against the Yankees in his major-league debut. The unheralded 25-year-old gets his first call up to the big leagues with speedster Victor Scott II hitting the injured list with a sprained ankle. He’s unlikely to make an impact for fantasy managers outside of deeper mixed leagues and NL-only formats.

Church missed the first couple of weeks of the season and then played four games in A-ball before moving up to Double-A Springfield, where he batted .336/.380/.563 with six steals and just 10 strikeouts in 129 plate appearances. That earned him this week’s promotion. A 2022 11th-round pick, Church has never been regarded as one of the Cardinals’ top prospects, but he’s always been very skilled at making contact and he’s showing more power than ever. He might have a future as a bench guy if he keeps it up.