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.
What immediately catches scouts’ attention with Church is his plus-plus speed. He can burst out of the box as a left-handed hitter and press infielders on any ground ball, and he’s a consistent and efficient threat to steal bags. With that speed, he can track down balls all over the grass and continually popped up in highlight reels for his ability to close down on balls. His arm strength works anywhere, and he’s rotated between all three spots in his career.
Without a noisy operation in the box, Church shows promising contact rates against all types of pitches, and his in-zone contact rate has been phenomenal with Triple-A Memphis in 2025. He isn’t a huge power threat, however, with a high ground rate and average-ish exit velocities. Still, there's no doubt he's in the midst of his best offensive season in the pros and looks closer to becoming a fun throwback fourth outfielder who helps with his high contact rate, fast wheels and great glove.
These run values are leveraged, meaning the base/out situation at the time of the event does impact the run value (thus introducing context outside the batter's own contribution).
Note: xHR tells how many of this player's batted balls would have been out of other stadiums. The "Adjusted" view here accounts for different wall heights, distances and environmental effects using Statcast Park Factor data.
Standard
Year
HR
2025
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
Player
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
Note: xHR tells how many of this player's batted balls would have been out of other stadiums. The "Standard" view here accounts for different wall heights and distances but excludes environmental effects. It is based purely on the observed trajectory of the hit.
! Note: Shifts are through the 2022 season, Shaded starting from the 2023 season, Shift: three or more infielders are on the same side of second base, Shade: positioned outside of their typical responsible slices of the field. Learn more about how positioning is defined here
