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.
Regains foothold in everyday lineup
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
April 19, 2026
Church will start in left field and bat seventh in Sunday's game against the Astros.
Analysis
Church made just one start during the Cardinals' six games last week, but he appears to have since taken back control of a regular spot in the outfield when St. Louis faces right-handed pitching. He'll pick up his fourth straight start after going 5-for-11 with a double, a walk, two stolen bases, two runs and an RBI over the previous three games.
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Batting Stats
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2026 MLB Game Log
2026
2025
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
10
1
1
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2024
 
 
+94%
OPS vs LHP
2026
 
 
+58%
OPS vs LHP
2025
 
 
+130%
OPS vs LHP
2024
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024vs Left .892 21 4 0 7 1 .412 .421 .471
Since 2024vs Right .459 94 12 2 7 2 .153 .223 .235
2026vs Left .829 7 3 0 3 1 .400 .429 .400
2026vs Right .525 43 4 1 3 1 .195 .233 .293
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
 
 
+9%
OPS at Home
2026
 
 
+10%
OPS on Road
2025
 
 
+26%
OPS at Home
2024
No Stats
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024Home .557 52 6 0 5 1 .239 .275 .283
Since 2024Away .510 63 10 2 9 2 .161 .242 .268
2026Home .539 27 4 0 4 1 .240 .259 .280
2026Away .594 23 3 1 2 1 .190 .261 .333
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
0.14
 
BB Rate
4.0%
 
K Rate
28.0%
 
BABIP
.281
 
ISO
.087
 
AVG
.217
 
OBP
.260
 
SLG
.304
 
OPS
.564
 
wOBA
.252
 
Exit Velocity
83.7 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
21.2%
 
Barrels/PA
4.0%
 
Expected BA
.196
 
Expected SLG
.298
 
Sprint Speed
26.1 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
54.8%
 
Line Drive %
16.1%
 
Fly Ball %
29.0%
 
Prospect Rankings History
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Nathan Church See More
Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Nathan Church See More
More Fantasy News
Provides spark in Wednesday's win
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
April 15, 2026
Church went 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored, an RBI and a stolen base in Wednesday's 5-3 win over the Guardians.
Analysis
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Out of lineup again versus righty
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
April 7, 2026
Church is not in the lineup for Tuesday's contest against the Nationals.
Analysis
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Sitting against right-hander
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
April 6, 2026
Church is absent from the lineup for Monday's game against the Nationals.
Analysis
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On bench against southpaw
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
March 29, 2026
Church is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Rays.
Analysis
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Starting in left field in opener
OFSt. Louis Cardinals
March 26, 2026
Church is starting in left field and hitting seventh in Thursday's opener against the Rays.
Analysis
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