Cardinals place Victor Scott II on IL, select Nathan Church as lineup takes another hit
Scott suffered the injury in the third inning of Saturday's 12-8 loss to New York when he scaled the outfield wall in an attempt to rob a solo home run from Aaron Judge. He remained on the ground for several minutes, but stayed in the game after a lengthy visit from head trainer Adam Olsen and manager Oli Marmol. Scott played the next three innings in apparent discomfort and was removed from the game in the bottom of the sixth.
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Outfielder Nathan Church was selected from Triple-A Memphis as the corresponding move. Church, 25, has played 53 of his 86 games this season with Memphis and is hitting .335 with a .921 OPS, 11 doubles and seven home runs. He can play all three outfield positions, but the Cardinals plan to use him predominantly in center. The Cardinals' 40-man roster now stands at 38.
Church went 2 for 4 with a double, a walk and two runs scored in Memphis' 11-10 win over Charlotte on Saturday. He will be in the Cardinals' starting lineup Sunday, making his major-league debut.
Victor Scott II was INCHES away from robbing Aaron Judge of a home run 🤯 pic.twitter.com/VLOkKcOL04
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 17, 2025
Scott's injury is the latest blow to an already depleted lineup. St. Louis has played eight of its nine games this homestand short-handed, including in both of their losses to the Yankees on Friday and Saturday. All-Star infielder Brendan Donovan has not played since Friday due to a nagging injury in his toe after missing two full games last weekend with left groin tightness. Donovan was in Friday's original starting lineup, leading off and batting second, but was a late scratch a couple of hours before first pitch.
The Cardinals are still hopeful Donovan will be able to avoid the IL, but he won't be available for at least the next few games. Donovan explained earlier in the week that the left toe injury he sustained in June was contributing to lingering tightness throughout his left leg. He missed several games in mid-June after spraining a capsule in his left toe — an injury also commonly referred to as turf toe.
He was able to avoid the injured list, but said Monday night after delivering a game-winning double off the bench that trying to compensate for the toe pain has had a corresponding effect on other areas.
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'It all stems back to the toe,' Donovan said. 'When your feet, the thing that contacts the ground, get banged up, it tends to go up the chain. That's what caused (the groin pain). We thought it'd be smart to take a couple of days because it has been bugging for a little bit.'
The team has also been without Willson Contreras since Tuesday, when he sustained a right foot contusion after being hit by a pitch against the Colorado Rockies. Marmol was optimistic Contreras could return to the starting lineup Sunday, or at least be an option off the bench.
Lars Nootbaar was also unavailable for the majority of the Rockies series earlier in the week after fouling a ball off his left shin. Nolan Arenado has been sidelined since Aug. 1 with a right shoulder strain. He has started a strength and conditioning program at the Cardinals' spring training complex in Jupiter, Fla., but has not resumed baseball activity. He is expected to meet with the team on Monday, when the Cardinals begin a three-game road series against the Miami Marlins.
The lack of available players has severely limited manager Oli Marmol's options. In both Friday and Saturday's games, Marmol had just two players available off the bench — pinch-runner Garrett Hampson and back-up catcher Yohel Pozo. While certainly not ideal, St. Louis would rather play short for a few days than be without Donovan, a key player, for at least 10.
'My goal is to stay away from the IL if possible, even if that means giving (Donovan) the next two to three days off,' Marmol said on Saturday. 'I prefer for him to be down or be short for three days than to have him down for a total of 10.'
'You're making the decision if it makes sense to lose those guys for 10 days or if you're better off playing short based on who would come up and how you would use that body. We feel at the moment — and this could change — that giving him three days and staying away from the IL gives us the best chance after those three days are up.'
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Scott's injury forced the Cardinals to change their stance. The 24-year-old has been one of the team's most durable players, appearing in 116 games with the majority coming as the starting center fielder. He has struggled to produce offensively in his first full major-league season — Scott is hitting .223 with a .623 OPS — but has made strides defensively, leaving the team optimistic about his future.
(Photo of Nathan Church: Nick Cammett / Diamond Images via Getty Images)
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