The Cardinals will develop a second baseman/outfielder Bryan Torres in their weekend series in Cincinnati, reports former major leaguer Carlos Baerga. Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat reports that the outfielder Nathan Church will go on the 10-day injured list the same way. Church was pulled from the lineup this afternoon with an undisclosed order and will miss at least the next week and a half.
St. Louis added Torres to their 40-man roster in November, so they won’t need another trade. The 28-year-old was eligible for major league free agency. Torres was coming off an excellent .308/.441/.464 season with Triple-A Memphis.
A native of Puerto Rico, Torres joined the pros more than a decade ago. He signed with the Brewers as an undrafted free agent in 2015. Torres never made it outside of rookie ball in the Milwaukee program. He had a brief stint in the Giants organization and was playing in the private sector as recently as 2023. The Cardinals apparently liked what they saw, as they signed Torres to a minor league contract heading into the ’24 season. He spent that year in Double-A and moved up to Triple-A last season.
Baseball America ranked Torres the #27 prospect in the St. Louis program. Louis during the offseason. They praise him for his above-average hit tool and average speed. Torres has less power but offers a slightly more flexible defense and an OBP-oriented skill set off the bench. He’s off to an even better start in Memphis this year, posting a .336/.454/.477 slash line with more walks than strikeouts in 166 outings. He rarely chases the plate and makes a lot of contact, and is 10-12 in stolen games.
Torres is about to turn 29 years old, so he’s not a regular guy. He’s in the top five among International League hitters in on-base percentage and doesn’t have much to show for it against minor leaguers. He can replace Sunday as the left side of the left field team José Fermín again Thomas Saggese at the moment.
