Springfield Cardinals Nathan Church Wins Texas League Player of the Week

Springfield Cardinals Nathan Church wins Player of the Week

SPRINGFIELD, MO (April 22, 2024) – Minor League Baseball announced on Monday that Springfield Cardinals outfielder Nathan Church has been named the Texas League Player of the Week for the week of April 15-21. This is the second time in his professional career that he has received a Player of the Week honor, last receiving Midwest League Player of the Week in June of 2023. He is the first Springfield Cardinal to be honored this season.

This past week in Amarillo, Church went 9-for-25 (.360) with six walks, two home runs, eight RBI and a stolen base. Fourteen games into the season, Church is batting .355 with a double and three home runs. His 15 RBI and 22 hits this season currently lead the Texas League. His play has helped propel Springfield to the best record (12-3) in Double-A baseball. Springfield is also the only team in the Texas League with double-digit wins. Prior to this season, Church was a High-A Peoria Chief (2023) and a Single-A Palm Beach Cardinal (2022). Including play so far this season, he owns a career .273 average across 160 Minor League games.

Church played three seasons at UC Irvine in the Big West Conference from 2020-2022. The Southern California native slashed .341/.405/.515 in 120 NCAA games. During the 2021 season, he led the NCAA in triples (8) while setting a program record with 100 hits in a single season for the Anteaters. Church was named All-Big West First Team, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Third Team All-American and Freshman All-American that season. St Louis selected him in the 11th round of the 2022 MLB Draft.

The Springfield Cardinals will host the Arkansas Travelers this week, April 23-28, for a six-game series with a lineup of can’t-miss promotions at Hammons Field.