Nathan Church #27

Graduated from El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Calif. The same high school that produced Nolan Arenado, Matt Chapman and Paul Skenes...Won the 2017 CIF Division I Championship at El Toro...Played college baseball at UC-Irvine. Received an injury red-shirt his freshman year in 2019 and played the COVID shortened season in 2020. Named First Team All-Big West in 2021 and the Stanford All-Regional Team...Led NCAA Division 1 with eight triples in 2021 and ranked nationally in hits (100, third), doubles (24, fifth), total bases (158, seventh), runs (62, 24th) and RBI (61, 29th). Established the school record in single-season hits...Played for State College in the 2021 MLB Draft League...Signed by Chris Rodriguez...Resides in Coto de Caza, Calif.

2025

Played in 86 Minor League games between Palm Beach (A), Springfield (AA) and Memphis (AAA) before making his Major League debut and finishing the season in St. Louis...Made his Major League debut vs. NYY (8/17), becoming the first Cardinals player to debut against the Yankees and joined Victor Scott II as the most recent Cardinals player to make his debut in CF. Scored his first run joining Scott II as the most recent Cardinal to score his first run before his first hit...Became the only player in the history of Major League Baseball to record two or more runs, two RBI, a hit by pitch, sac bunt and stolen base before recording his first hit in his first four games played...Recorded his first Major League hit and home run on the same game in consecutive at-bats off the same pitcher. Singled off Adrian Houser in the fifth inning at TB (8/22) at Steinbrenner Field. Hit a two-run home run in his next plate appearance in the seventh inning. Snapped an 0-for-15 to begin his career. Joined Victor Scott II as the only Cardinals to hit their first MLB home run against Tampa Bay...Recorded an RBI in four straight games (8/19-25) despite not collecting a hit in his first two games of that stretch...Lefty swinger hit left-handed pitchers at a .417 (5-for-12) clip with a home run, double and four RBI...Finished the season batting .273 in the month of September while playing in 16 games...Tied for the most outfield assists among MLB rookie centerfielders with two, both over the final six weeks of the season...Played 135 innings in centerfield for the Cardinals, sixth-most by a Major League rookie from his debut on Aug. 17 through the end of the season. Only Jakob Marsee (MIA 292.0) and Robert Hassell III (WSH, 171.0) had more among N.L. rookies...Stole his first Major League base at TB (8/21) swiping second base off Joe Boyle/ Nick Fortes...Ranked fifth among N.L. rookies with a 4.86 AB/RBI during the month of August recording seven RBI over 34 at-bats...Led Cardinals Minor Leaguers at time of his call-up in batting (.329), hits (114) and total bases (182). Ranked in the Top 10 in home runs (13, tied-fifth), RBI (50, tied-seventh), runs (67, second), doubles (19, tied-fifth), triples (5, tied-second), extra base hits (37, fourth), slugging (.524, third) and OPS (.910, fourth)...Hit a career-high 13 home runs over 86 Minor League games...Ran off a 14-game hitting streak in Memphis (6/6-22) totaling a .426 BA (26-for-61) with a 1.149 OPS...Texas League Player of the Month for May...Showcased his arm during the 2025 Spring Breakout game with a 99.7 MPH throw vs. Miami to retire Deyvison De Los Santos at the plate. Had five outfield assists in the minor leagues.

2024

Played a career-high 129 games while spending the entire season at Springfield (AA)...Led the Texas League in runs scored (81) and ranked in the Top 10 in RBI (66, seventh) and hits (129, third)...Cardinals Minor League Player of the Month for April, batting .349 (30-for-86) with three HR, 18 RBI and a .402 OBP...Texas League Player of the Week (4/15-21)...Posted a reverse split batting .302 against left-handed pitchers (32-for-106, two HR) and .258 (97-for-376, seven HR) vs. right-handed pitchers...Was successful in 24-of-28 stolen base attempts. Ranked 3rd among Springfield Cardinals in thefts...Homered in back-to-back games at Amarillo (4/19-20) and matched his career-high with four hits on 4/20...Finished the season hitting safely in his final 10 games of the season (14-for-39, .359), his season-long hitting streak.