Nathan Church

Nathan Church

25-Year-Old OutfielderOF
St. Louis Cardinals
2026 Fantasy Outlook
He isn't a buzzy prospect, but Church should get a chance sooner than later to show what he can do as a regular outfielder for the Cardinals. The 25-year-old lefty hitter is a plus defensive outfielder with a cannon for an arm and plus speed, which means he can help the team in several ways, even if his bat is a little light on impact. He slashed .329/.386/.524 with 13 home runs, 18 steals, an 8.6 percent walk rate and a 9.6 percent strikeout rate in 86 games at Triple-A, good for a 144 wRC+. Church got a taste of the majors over the final six weeks of the season and struggled to a .179/.254/.250 slash line with one home run, one steal, a 4.6 percent walk rate and a 27.7 percent strikeout rate in 65 plate appearances. Church, who had a 108 mph maxEV and 38.3 percent Statcast hard-hit rate at Triple-A, lacks significant short- and long-term upside, but he is a great late-round pick in draft-and-hold leagues and NL-only leagues due to the lack of established options ahead of him on the depth chart and his potential to help with stolen bases while making consistent contact. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season
From Preseason
#373
ADP
Signed a one-year contract with the Cardinals in March of 2026.
Listed in Thursday's lineup
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
May 7, 2026
Church (leg) will start in left field and bat seventh against the Padres on Thursday, Jeff Sanders of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
Analysis
Church was taken out of Wednesday's game against Milwaukee after taking a pitch off his leg in the second inning, but the incident won't end up costing him a start. The 25-year-old outfielder has slashed .248/.284/.436 through 109 plate appearances this season and has hit safely in each of the last five contests in which he logged multiple at-bats.
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Batting Stats
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2026 MLB Game Log
2026
2025
2026 MLB Game Log
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2025 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
24
1
1
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
2
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2024
 
 
+32%
OPS vs LHP
2026
 
 
+2%
OPS vs LHP
2025
 
 
+130%
OPS vs LHP
2024
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024vs Left .789 36 4 0 7 1 .375 .382 .406
Since 2024vs Right .600 146 20 6 17 3 .188 .247 .353
2026vs Left .714 22 3 0 3 1 .350 .364 .350
2026vs Right .701 95 12 5 13 2 .225 .263 .438
2025vs Left .917 14 1 0 4 0 .417 .417 .500
2025vs Right .398 51 8 1 4 1 .114 .216 .182
2024vs Left 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024vs Right 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Minor League Splits View Minor League Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2024
 
 
+45%
OPS at Home
2026
 
 
+48%
OPS at Home
2025
 
 
+26%
OPS at Home
2024
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024Home .768 82 10 3 11 1 .284 .309 .459
Since 2024Away .528 100 14 3 13 3 .176 .242 .286
2026Home .844 57 8 3 10 1 .302 .316 .528
2026Away .571 60 7 2 6 2 .196 .250 .321
2025Home .577 25 2 0 1 0 .238 .292 .286
2025Away .459 40 7 1 7 1 .143 .231 .229
2024Home 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2024Away 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Nathan Church compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.16
 
BB Rate
3.4%
 
K Rate
21.4%
 
BABIP
.272
 
ISO
.174
 
AVG
.248
 
OBP
.282
 
SLG
.422
 
OPS
.704
 
wOBA
.306
 
Exit Velocity
86.4 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
29.1%
 
Barrels/PA
8.5%
 
Expected BA
.246
 
Expected SLG
.436
 
Sprint Speed
24.9 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
47.6%
 
Line Drive %
16.7%
 
Fly Ball %
35.7%
 
Prospect Rankings History
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Nathan Church See More
Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Nathan Church See More
More Fantasy News
Exits with leg contusion
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
Leg
May 6, 2026
The Cardinals announced that Church was removed from Wednesday's game against the Brewers due to a left leg contusion, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports.
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Leaves game after HBP
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
Lower Leg
May 6, 2026
Church was removed from Wednesday's game versus the Brewers after the third inning following a hit-by-pitch on the left leg, Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports.
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Pair of knocks in loss Sunday
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
May 3, 2026
Church went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles in Sunday's 4-1 loss to the Dodgers.
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Goes yard twice in Saturday's loss
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
April 25, 2026
Church went 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI in Saturday's 11-9 loss to the Mariners.
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Flashes skills in Tuesday's win
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
April 22, 2026
Church went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run and a stolen base in Tuesday's 5-3 win over the Marlins.
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