Nathan Church stood underneath an oval “2012” plaque on the clubhouse façade that commemorates Springfield’s lone Texas League championship title, and an hour before Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader at Hammons Field, he pondered goals for 2024.
Church’s play lately has been divine – he was a robber baron in the outfield against Midland last week, stealing multiple extra-base hits and pulling a home run back over the right field wall. In the series opener against Tulsa on Tuesday, Church crushed a hanging off-speed pitch for two-run skyscraper in the third inning, then gunned down two Drillers on the basepaths from right field.
A nightly highlight reel on the Cards’ homestand has Church on the short-list for Texas League Player of the Week honors, and he’s slashing .313/.358/.479 with a team-high 31 RBIs in 39 games.
But individual accomplishments weren’t on his mind.
“Goals this year is to win a championship for Springfield, that would be awesome,” he said. “We have a really tight-knit group, it’s really cool. It’s probably one of the better teams that I’ve been with in terms of camaraderie – we just want to win every game.”
In the first inning of Game 2 Wednesday, Church bells were ringing again. With Bryan Torres at first, the Cards’ 11th-round pick in 2022 launched another two-run shot, a bomb to deep right off Tulsa righthander Christian Romero, for his sixth home run of the year.
Power adds another dimension to Church’s game – a prolific gap-to-gap hitter at U.C. Irvine, his speed is a weapon that plays offensively and defensively.
Kiss that one goodbye! Nathan Church has now homered in back-to-back nights as he gets us started real early in game two. pic.twitter.com/eYzCvrGjFQ
— Springfield Cardinals (@Sgf_Cardinals) May 23, 2024
“He wants to hit some homers, (but) he wants to get on base, so he can let his speed play out,” Springfield manager Jose Leger said. “He came with a purpose – he wants to steal 30 bases this year, that’s something he told me.”
The Newport Beach, California native has swiped 10 bags so far, but a grateful pitching staff is the real beneficiary of Church’s wheels.
“I really pride myself on defense – if you make a really good play, you’re helping the pitchers and you’re helping the team win,” Church said.
Springfield (23-18) leads the Texas League North first-half race by one-half game over Arkansas and, while Hammons Field’s laboratory has funneled plenty of talent to St. Louis recently, championships have been harder to come by.
“That’s one thing that during the first individual meeting that I had with (players), not the team meeting, but the individual meetings that I had with them – most of them brought that to the meeting,” Leger said.
“They all said, ‘Hey, I want to win, I want to win, I want to win.’ They want to create that winning culture from here, you know, and hopefully they can continue with that mentality when they get to St. Louis.
Andy Carroll is a freelance sports writer living in the Ozarks with his wife and four great kids. He loves St. Louis, toasted ravioli and minor league baseball. You can follow him on Twitter @carroll_sgf and Instagram @andycarroll505
