AZ_Cardsfan wrote: ↑07 Jun 2025 18:11 pm
Funny stuff. The .364 AAA average is in ELEVEN ABS. Meaningless. Instead why don't people pull up the scouting reports and see if he is a serious prospect.
Church was Paul Skenes’ high-school teammate at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California, and headed to UC Irvine from there. He set the Anteaters’ single-season record with 100 hits in 2021, returned for a solid season in 2022 and went in the 11th round to the Cardinals that summer, signing for $125,000. He was an average performer for High-A Peoria in 2023 and climbed to Double-A with solid results (.263/.331/.373, nine homers, 24 steals) last season. Church rounded out his second full season in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .364/.397/.418 in 15 games.
In short while he has tools in 3 of the measurable skills that matter, his hit and hot for power are his weakest. These are the hardest ones to find and most critical to a players success. You can hid slow weak throwing poor fielding guys who hit and hit for power. You can not hide a guy who simply can't hit.
Maybe he has found something and is a better hitter than that scouting report. For his sake and the Cardinals sake I'd love to see it happen. But taking his 11 ABs in Memphis out of context is either duplicitous to get attention,or stupidity. Had he known or mentioned he hit 364 in 2024 AZFL in 55 ABs that is a larger more interesting sample. Still,,,, whatever.
Pretty sure no one here has seen him play. I do go to AZFL games and do not recall seeing him.
in person? No, I haven't seen Church play. On MiLB for 2 seasons, yes, I've seen him play plenty. I've only been to Palm Beach games the last 2 seasons when they visit Lakeland, and once at Bradenton.
And I gave these grades earlier in this thread.
and that's classic Shady....box score hunt a player. It's new for him to claim to have seen him play...he hasn't.
AZ_Cardsfan wrote: ↑07 Jun 2025 18:11 pm
Funny stuff. The .364 AAA average is in ELEVEN ABS. Meaningless. Instead why don't people pull up the scouting reports and see if he is a serious prospect.
Church was Paul Skenes’ high-school teammate at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California, and headed to UC Irvine from there. He set the Anteaters’ single-season record with 100 hits in 2021, returned for a solid season in 2022 and went in the 11th round to the Cardinals that summer, signing for $125,000. He was an average performer for High-A Peoria in 2023 and climbed to Double-A with solid results (.263/.331/.373, nine homers, 24 steals) last season. Church rounded out his second full season in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .364/.397/.418 in 15 games.
In short while he has tools in 3 of the measurable skills that matter, his hit and hot for power are his weakest. These are the hardest ones to find and most critical to a players success. You can hid slow weak throwing poor fielding guys who hit and hit for power. You can not hide a guy who simply can't hit.
Maybe he has found something and is a better hitter than that scouting report. For his sake and the Cardinals sake I'd love to see it happen. But taking his 11 ABs in Memphis out of context is either duplicitous to get attention,or stupidity. Had he known or mentioned he hit 364 in 2024 AZFL in 55 ABs that is a larger more interesting sample. Still,,,, whatever.
Pretty sure no one here has seen him play. I do go to AZFL games and do not recall seeing him.
in person? No, I haven't seen Church play. On MiLB for 2 seasons, yes, I've seen him play plenty. I've only been to Palm Beach games the last 2 seasons when they visit Lakeland, and once at Bradenton.
And I gave these grades earlier in this thread.
and that's classic Shady....box score hunt a player. It's new for him to claim to have seen him play...he hasn't.
You were the one person here whose opinion on him I figured came from history of watching or reading of him. I sure hope that scouting report of his hit tool ends up being low. If he can hit he has a real future. Kind of like Scott. He has the other tools that don't slump. But hitting is the hardest one to predict.
AZ_Cardsfan wrote: ↑07 Jun 2025 18:11 pm
Funny stuff. The .364 AAA average is in ELEVEN ABS. Meaningless. Instead why don't people pull up the scouting reports and see if he is a serious prospect.
Church was Paul Skenes’ high-school teammate at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California, and headed to UC Irvine from there. He set the Anteaters’ single-season record with 100 hits in 2021, returned for a solid season in 2022 and went in the 11th round to the Cardinals that summer, signing for $125,000. He was an average performer for High-A Peoria in 2023 and climbed to Double-A with solid results (.263/.331/.373, nine homers, 24 steals) last season. Church rounded out his second full season in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .364/.397/.418 in 15 games.
In short while he has tools in 3 of the measurable skills that matter, his hit and hot for power are his weakest. These are the hardest ones to find and most critical to a players success. You can hid slow weak throwing poor fielding guys who hit and hit for power. You can not hide a guy who simply can't hit.
Maybe he has found something and is a better hitter than that scouting report. For his sake and the Cardinals sake I'd love to see it happen. But taking his 11 ABs in Memphis out of context is either duplicitous to get attention,or stupidity. Had he known or mentioned he hit 364 in 2024 AZFL in 55 ABs that is a larger more interesting sample. Still,,,, whatever.
Pretty sure no one here has seen him play. I do go to AZFL games and do not recall seeing him.
in person? No, I haven't seen Church play. On MiLB for 2 seasons, yes, I've seen him play plenty. I've only been to Palm Beach games the last 2 seasons when they visit Lakeland, and once at Bradenton.
And I gave these grades earlier in this thread.
and that's classic Shady....box score hunt a player. It's new for him to claim to have seen him play...he hasn't.
You were the one person here whose opinion on him I figured came from history of watching or reading of him. I sure hope that scouting report of his hit tool ends up being low. If he can hit he has a real future. Kind of like Scott. He has the other tools that don't slump. But hitting is the hardest one to predict.
when He was with Peoria in 2023, I remember him having an insane 1st half, he led all the minors in hits...then he got injured. Last year in Springfield, he was okay with the bat, but his fielding was another level. Between him and Bryan Torres, they made that pitching staff look really good with all the highlight reel plays they made
WLTFE wrote: ↑07 Jun 2025 15:31 pm
Do we have a new moderator that tells people how many threads they can start?...I simply ignore threads I have no interest in...
Sure. That makes sense.
But...
Do you ignore telemarketers or put yourself on a no-call list?
Do you ignore door to door salesmen or put a "no soliciting " sign up?
Do you ignore junk e-mails or do you have them sent straight to a spam folder?
Ignoring Shady doesn't fix the problem of him spamming this board. He is relentless and has no shame.
Come on.... What compels you to open a "shady" thread? What forces you to respond with an insult? It makes no sense to me. That is tantamount to answering a call clearly marked SPAM, and chewing out whoever is on the line.
I don't know who started a thread when I open it. How would I know if it's a Shady thread? It just lists whomever responded last.
AZ_Cardsfan wrote: ↑07 Jun 2025 18:11 pm
Funny stuff. The .364 AAA average is in ELEVEN ABS. Meaningless. Instead why don't people pull up the scouting reports and see if he is a serious prospect.
Church was Paul Skenes’ high-school teammate at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California, and headed to UC Irvine from there. He set the Anteaters’ single-season record with 100 hits in 2021, returned for a solid season in 2022 and went in the 11th round to the Cardinals that summer, signing for $125,000. He was an average performer for High-A Peoria in 2023 and climbed to Double-A with solid results (.263/.331/.373, nine homers, 24 steals) last season. Church rounded out his second full season in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .364/.397/.418 in 15 games.
In short while he has tools in 3 of the measurable skills that matter, his hit and hot for power are his weakest. These are the hardest ones to find and most critical to a players success. You can hid slow weak throwing poor fielding guys who hit and hit for power. You can not hide a guy who simply can't hit.
Maybe he has found something and is a better hitter than that scouting report. For his sake and the Cardinals sake I'd love to see it happen. But taking his 11 ABs in Memphis out of context is either duplicitous to get attention,or stupidity. Had he known or mentioned he hit 364 in 2024 AZFL in 55 ABs that is a larger more interesting sample. Still,,,, whatever.
Pretty sure no one here has seen him play. I do go to AZFL games and do not recall seeing him.
in person? No, I haven't seen Church play. On MiLB for 2 seasons, yes, I've seen him play plenty. I've only been to Palm Beach games the last 2 seasons when they visit Lakeland, and once at Bradenton.
And I gave these grades earlier in this thread.
and that's classic Shady....box score hunt a player. It's new for him to claim to have seen him play...he hasn't.
GURU, why are you SO defensive regarding my posts? You often make a decent baseball comment. But it's intertwined with dismissive remarks regarding me. You are the GURU of CT. You don't have to even acknowledge me, Your Highness. Even negatively. While you are at it. Why not answer the question in the OP?
AZ_Cardsfan wrote: ↑07 Jun 2025 18:11 pm
Funny stuff. The .364 AAA average is in ELEVEN ABS. Meaningless. Instead why don't people pull up the scouting reports and see if he is a serious prospect.
Church was Paul Skenes’ high-school teammate at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California, and headed to UC Irvine from there. He set the Anteaters’ single-season record with 100 hits in 2021, returned for a solid season in 2022 and went in the 11th round to the Cardinals that summer, signing for $125,000. He was an average performer for High-A Peoria in 2023 and climbed to Double-A with solid results (.263/.331/.373, nine homers, 24 steals) last season. Church rounded out his second full season in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .364/.397/.418 in 15 games.
In short while he has tools in 3 of the measurable skills that matter, his hit and hot for power are his weakest. These are the hardest ones to find and most critical to a players success. You can hid slow weak throwing poor fielding guys who hit and hit for power. You can not hide a guy who simply can't hit.
Maybe he has found something and is a better hitter than that scouting report. For his sake and the Cardinals sake I'd love to see it happen. But taking his 11 ABs in Memphis out of context is either duplicitous to get attention,or stupidity. Had he known or mentioned he hit 364 in 2024 AZFL in 55 ABs that is a larger more interesting sample. Still,,,, whatever.
Pretty sure no one here has seen him play. I do go to AZFL games and do not recall seeing him.
in person? No, I haven't seen Church play. On MiLB for 2 seasons, yes, I've seen him play plenty. I've only been to Palm Beach games the last 2 seasons when they visit Lakeland, and once at Bradenton.
And I gave these grades earlier in this thread.
and that's classic Shady....box score hunt a player. It's new for him to claim to have seen him play...he hasn't.
GURU, why are you SO defensive regarding my posts? You often make a decent baseball comment. But it's intertwined with dismissive remarks regarding me. You are the GURU of CT. You don't have to even acknowledge me, Your Highness. Even negatively. While you are at it. Why not answer the question in the OP?
He’s right.
I’m sure you wrote this OP 15 minutes after uncovering Church’s good production in AA through 30 games….
AZ_Cardsfan wrote: ↑07 Jun 2025 18:11 pm
Funny stuff. The .364 AAA average is in ELEVEN ABS. Meaningless. Instead why don't people pull up the scouting reports and see if he is a serious prospect.
Church was Paul Skenes’ high-school teammate at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California, and headed to UC Irvine from there. He set the Anteaters’ single-season record with 100 hits in 2021, returned for a solid season in 2022 and went in the 11th round to the Cardinals that summer, signing for $125,000. He was an average performer for High-A Peoria in 2023 and climbed to Double-A with solid results (.263/.331/.373, nine homers, 24 steals) last season. Church rounded out his second full season in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .364/.397/.418 in 15 games.
In short while he has tools in 3 of the measurable skills that matter, his hit and hot for power are his weakest. These are the hardest ones to find and most critical to a players success. You can hid slow weak throwing poor fielding guys who hit and hit for power. You can not hide a guy who simply can't hit.
Maybe he has found something and is a better hitter than that scouting report. For his sake and the Cardinals sake I'd love to see it happen. But taking his 11 ABs in Memphis out of context is either duplicitous to get attention,or stupidity. Had he known or mentioned he hit 364 in 2024 AZFL in 55 ABs that is a larger more interesting sample. Still,,,, whatever.
Pretty sure no one here has seen him play. I do go to AZFL games and do not recall seeing him.
Horse chit:
Nathan Church has spent most of his baseball career flying under the proverbial radar. During his days at El Toro High School in Newport Beach, California, only a handful of Division I colleges paid him notice. Fewer professional scouts knew him.
All Church did was hit — and also pitch, as he was a two-way player at the time. Yet despite collecting a school-record 100 hits in the 2021 season at UC-Irvine and finishing with a .341 career college average, Church was a modest 11th-round draft choice in the 2022 MLB draft.
Three years later, Church is still hitting. And he’s getting noticed.
Starting the season as the St. Louis Cardinals’ No. 15 minor-league prospect according to Baseball America, Church is also ranked the organization’s best defensive minor-league outfielder with the best outfield arm.
Now more than a blip on that radar, Church is hitting .303 with four home runs in 79 at-bats after the Cardinals’ 7-5 victory Wednesday in the second of a six-game homestand against the Amarillo Sod Poodles. Church hit a leadoff home run for the second time this season as Springfield followed up a 7-2 victory in the series opener the night before.
If the 24-year-old Church has a chip on his shoulder after the years of relative anonymity, he’s hiding it well.
“I don’t really try to look at that, to be honest,” Church said of the prospect rankings. “I just show up every day where my feet are and try to help the team win.
“I’ve started (the season) pretty good. I think just the main focus is to try to get some wins on the board. We’ve kind of been struggling a little bit, so just trying to get back to winning ballgames is the main thing.”
Church had a rare hitless night on Tuesday night, breaking a seven-game hitting streak before rebounding with two hits in Wednesday’s day game to boost his May batting average to .333.
Springfield Cardinals outfielder Nathan Church times his swing in the on-deck circle against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Thursday, May 1, 2025, at Hammons Field. (Photo by Mary Ellen Chiles)
One person in the Cardinals’ organization who isn’t surprised that Church keeps on impressing people is Springfield manager Patrick Anderson. The two were together with High-A Peoria in 2023, as Church led all High-A hitters with 127 hits. He also drove in 44 runs and stole 21 bases.
“Nathan has done an unbelievable job in the sense of his plan, his approach and his consistency,” Anderson said. “I’ve watched him go about his business and he’s been very consistent with what he has done.
“His work has been unbelievable. He’s one of the most focused guys that I’ve seen, to know what he needs to work on and to work on it diligently every day. He’s starting to see some fruits of his labor.”
Anderson said Church’s invitation to big-league spring training this year was a big step. Not only did Church drill daily with established major leaguers, but he also played in 20 games with 16 at-bats. He only had one hit, but drew seven walks and played spotless defense.
“The opportunity he had, going to the big leagues in spring training and identifying that he can play with all of those players, that really got him more focused,” Anderson said. “You can see that nobody is going to get in the way of him getting to the big leagues.”
AZ_Cardsfan wrote: ↑07 Jun 2025 18:11 pm
Funny stuff. The .364 AAA average is in ELEVEN ABS. Meaningless. Instead why don't people pull up the scouting reports and see if he is a serious prospect.
Church was Paul Skenes’ high-school teammate at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California, and headed to UC Irvine from there. He set the Anteaters’ single-season record with 100 hits in 2021, returned for a solid season in 2022 and went in the 11th round to the Cardinals that summer, signing for $125,000. He was an average performer for High-A Peoria in 2023 and climbed to Double-A with solid results (.263/.331/.373, nine homers, 24 steals) last season. Church rounded out his second full season in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .364/.397/.418 in 15 games.
In short while he has tools in 3 of the measurable skills that matter, his hit and hot for power are his weakest. These are the hardest ones to find and most critical to a players success. You can hid slow weak throwing poor fielding guys who hit and hit for power. You can not hide a guy who simply can't hit.
Maybe he has found something and is a better hitter than that scouting report. For his sake and the Cardinals sake I'd love to see it happen. But taking his 11 ABs in Memphis out of context is either duplicitous to get attention,or stupidity. Had he known or mentioned he hit 364 in 2024 AZFL in 55 ABs that is a larger more interesting sample. Still,,,, whatever.
Pretty sure no one here has seen him play. I do go to AZFL games and do not recall seeing him.
in person? No, I haven't seen Church play. On MiLB for 2 seasons, yes, I've seen him play plenty. I've only been to Palm Beach games the last 2 seasons when they visit Lakeland, and once at Bradenton.
And I gave these grades earlier in this thread.
and that's classic Shady....box score hunt a player. It's new for him to claim to have seen him play...he hasn't.
GURU, why are you SO defensive regarding my posts? You often make a decent baseball comment. But it's intertwined with dismissive remarks regarding me. You are the GURU of CT. You don't have to even acknowledge me, Your Highness. Even negatively. While you are at it. Why not answer the question in the OP?
He’s right.
I’m sure you wrote this OP 15 minutes after uncovering Church’s good production in AA through 30 games….
Just another knee jerk thread from Shady, trying to be a conversation starter.
AZ_Cardsfan wrote: ↑07 Jun 2025 18:11 pm
Funny stuff. The .364 AAA average is in ELEVEN ABS. Meaningless. Instead why don't people pull up the scouting reports and see if he is a serious prospect.
Church was Paul Skenes’ high-school teammate at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California, and headed to UC Irvine from there. He set the Anteaters’ single-season record with 100 hits in 2021, returned for a solid season in 2022 and went in the 11th round to the Cardinals that summer, signing for $125,000. He was an average performer for High-A Peoria in 2023 and climbed to Double-A with solid results (.263/.331/.373, nine homers, 24 steals) last season. Church rounded out his second full season in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .364/.397/.418 in 15 games.
In short while he has tools in 3 of the measurable skills that matter, his hit and hot for power are his weakest. These are the hardest ones to find and most critical to a players success. You can hid slow weak throwing poor fielding guys who hit and hit for power. You can not hide a guy who simply can't hit.
Maybe he has found something and is a better hitter than that scouting report. For his sake and the Cardinals sake I'd love to see it happen. But taking his 11 ABs in Memphis out of context is either duplicitous to get attention,or stupidity. Had he known or mentioned he hit 364 in 2024 AZFL in 55 ABs that is a larger more interesting sample. Still,,,, whatever.
Pretty sure no one here has seen him play. I do go to AZFL games and do not recall seeing him.
in person? No, I haven't seen Church play. On MiLB for 2 seasons, yes, I've seen him play plenty. I've only been to Palm Beach games the last 2 seasons when they visit Lakeland, and once at Bradenton.
And I gave these grades earlier in this thread.
and that's classic Shady....box score hunt a player. It's new for him to claim to have seen him play...he hasn't.
GURU, why are you SO defensive regarding my posts? You often make a decent baseball comment. But it's intertwined with dismissive remarks regarding me. You are the GURU of CT. You don't have to even acknowledge me, Your Highness. Even negatively. While you are at it. Why not answer the question in the OP?
He’s right.
I’m sure you wrote this OP 15 minutes after uncovering Church’s good production in AA through 30 games….
Just another knee jerk thread from Shady, trying to be a conversation starter.
A poster that has followed Church has clearly debunked your amateur expertise on Church.
AZ_Cardsfan wrote: ↑07 Jun 2025 18:11 pm
Funny stuff. The .364 AAA average is in ELEVEN ABS. Meaningless. Instead why don't people pull up the scouting reports and see if he is a serious prospect.
Church was Paul Skenes’ high-school teammate at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California, and headed to UC Irvine from there. He set the Anteaters’ single-season record with 100 hits in 2021, returned for a solid season in 2022 and went in the 11th round to the Cardinals that summer, signing for $125,000. He was an average performer for High-A Peoria in 2023 and climbed to Double-A with solid results (.263/.331/.373, nine homers, 24 steals) last season. Church rounded out his second full season in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .364/.397/.418 in 15 games.
In short while he has tools in 3 of the measurable skills that matter, his hit and hot for power are his weakest. These are the hardest ones to find and most critical to a players success. You can hid slow weak throwing poor fielding guys who hit and hit for power. You can not hide a guy who simply can't hit.
Maybe he has found something and is a better hitter than that scouting report. For his sake and the Cardinals sake I'd love to see it happen. But taking his 11 ABs in Memphis out of context is either duplicitous to get attention,or stupidity. Had he known or mentioned he hit 364 in 2024 AZFL in 55 ABs that is a larger more interesting sample. Still,,,, whatever.
Pretty sure no one here has seen him play. I do go to AZFL games and do not recall seeing him.
in person? No, I haven't seen Church play. On MiLB for 2 seasons, yes, I've seen him play plenty. I've only been to Palm Beach games the last 2 seasons when they visit Lakeland, and once at Bradenton.
And I gave these grades earlier in this thread.
and that's classic Shady....box score hunt a player. It's new for him to claim to have seen him play...he hasn't.
GURU, why are you SO defensive regarding my posts? You often make a decent baseball comment. But it's intertwined with dismissive remarks regarding me. You are the GURU of CT. You don't have to even acknowledge me, Your Highness. Even negatively. While you are at it. Why not answer the question in the OP?
He’s right.
I’m sure you wrote this OP 15 minutes after uncovering Church’s good production in AA through 30 games….
Just another knee jerk thread from Shady, trying to be a conversation starter.
A poster that has followed Church has clearly debunked your amateur expertise on Church.
AZ_Cardsfan wrote: ↑07 Jun 2025 18:11 pm
Funny stuff. The .364 AAA average is in ELEVEN ABS. Meaningless. Instead why don't people pull up the scouting reports and see if he is a serious prospect.
Church was Paul Skenes’ high-school teammate at El Toro High School in Lake Forest, California, and headed to UC Irvine from there. He set the Anteaters’ single-season record with 100 hits in 2021, returned for a solid season in 2022 and went in the 11th round to the Cardinals that summer, signing for $125,000. He was an average performer for High-A Peoria in 2023 and climbed to Double-A with solid results (.263/.331/.373, nine homers, 24 steals) last season. Church rounded out his second full season in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .364/.397/.418 in 15 games.
In short while he has tools in 3 of the measurable skills that matter, his hit and hot for power are his weakest. These are the hardest ones to find and most critical to a players success. You can hid slow weak throwing poor fielding guys who hit and hit for power. You can not hide a guy who simply can't hit.
Maybe he has found something and is a better hitter than that scouting report. For his sake and the Cardinals sake I'd love to see it happen. But taking his 11 ABs in Memphis out of context is either duplicitous to get attention,or stupidity. Had he known or mentioned he hit 364 in 2024 AZFL in 55 ABs that is a larger more interesting sample. Still,,,, whatever.
Pretty sure no one here has seen him play. I do go to AZFL games and do not recall seeing him.
in person? No, I haven't seen Church play. On MiLB for 2 seasons, yes, I've seen him play plenty. I've only been to Palm Beach games the last 2 seasons when they visit Lakeland, and once at Bradenton.
And I gave these grades earlier in this thread.
and that's classic Shady....box score hunt a player. It's new for him to claim to have seen him play...he hasn't.
GURU, why are you SO defensive regarding my posts? You often make a decent baseball comment. But it's intertwined with dismissive remarks regarding me. You are the GURU of CT. You don't have to even acknowledge me, Your Highness. Even negatively. While you are at it. Why not answer the question in the OP?
He’s right.
I’m sure you wrote this OP 15 minutes after uncovering Church’s good production in AA through 30 games….
Just another knee jerk thread from Shady, trying to be a conversation starter.
A poster that has followed Church has clearly debunked your amateur expertise on Church.
Says the guy who discovered Church about 20 hours ago.
