The St. Louis Cardinals aren’t going to have Nathan Church in the lineup for at least a little over one week.
On Saturday, Church was placed on the 10-Day Injured List due to a left shoulder strain retroactive to May 21. The Cardinals promoted Bryan Torres to help fill in for Church in the meantime. As of right now, it hasn’t been shared exactly how long Church will be out for, but Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democratreported that Church will see a specialist on Tuesday, but he has avoided any “major structural concern.”
“[Oli Marmol] said Nathan Church felt a little discomfort in his shoulder before Wednesday’s game that magnified throughout the day, didn’t improve on Thursday. Imaging showed no major structural concern, just inflammation. Seeing a specialist Tuesday,” Jones wrote on X.
Injuries never come at a good time, but Church landing on the Injured List certainly is tough at this moment. He has been great for the Cardinals this season as a rookie overall. He has played good defense and was slashing .247/.282/.390 with a .672 OPS, five homers, 18 RBIs, four stolen bases, and six walks in 45 games played before landing on the Injured List.
Torres was awesome after making his big league debut on Saturday. He played in both games of the Cardinals’ doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds and went 3-for-8 with one homer, two walks, one run scored, and two RBIs. It was a phenomenal story for the club and a long time coming. Torres began his professional career back in 2015 and after 11 years finally was able to make the jump to the big leagues.
With Church, the timing isn’t great because the outfield is only going to get tighter in the near future. Lars Nootbaar is on a rehab assignment and should be back soon, despite the fact that he wasn’t activated on Sunday when he was eligible. We should see Nootbaar back in the near future and then Church will come back as well.
Soon enough, Church, Nootbaar, Victor Scott II and Jordan Walker are all going to be active on the big league roster and the club, barring a demotion. The Cardinals are going to have some decisions to make. So far this season, Church, Scott and Walker have gotten significant and consistent playing time. Walker’s playing time isn’t going to change, but it will be interesting to see how the club handles Church, Scott and Nootbaar when everyone is ready.
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