Ep 1225 ｜ The Savannah Bananas Player Bringing Jesus to Baseball ｜ RobertAnthony Cruz (Coach RAC)
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
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Summary
Coach Rack is an extremely popular TikTokoker who teaches kids the basics of baseball and how to love the game in a way that also glorifies God. He is a player for the very famous Savannah Bananas Banana Ball team. This is a super fun and encouraging conversation that you are going to love.
Transcript
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Coach Rack is an extremely popular TikToker who teaches kids the basics of baseball and
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how to love the game in a way that also glorifies God.
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He is a player for the very famous Savannah Bananas banana ball team.
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I'm sure if you don't know who Coach Rack is, your son does.
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This is a super fun and encouraging conversation that you are going to love.
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It's brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.
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Okay, y'all, before we get into that fun conversation with Coach Rack, I want to remind you to please
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And I know those of you who have already subscribed, you're like, I already do that.
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But I have to ask, because a lot of people who listen and watch don't realize that they
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But you subscribing on these various platforms, Spotify, Blaze TV, Apple, YouTube, it's what
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allows us to bring you this free content on a daily basis.
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Just make sure that you are subscribing, especially on YouTube.
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And now, without further ado, here's Coach Rack.
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Coach Rack, thanks so much for taking the time to join us.
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And when I was with the Nationals, one of my coaches started calling me Rack, and that
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And I started making coaching videos in 2022 after getting released from the Nationals.
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And so when I started making videos, I was like, okay, Robert Anthony Cruz, as my username,
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I wanted it to be like, if someone could watch one of my videos, they can tell their friends,
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oh, you know, I watched this on the Coach Rack video.
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So, yeah, I came up with the name Coach Rack and kind of just stuck.
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I just wanted to talk about your story and hear about not just your baseball career,
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but obviously you're very strong in your Christian faith.
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So I want to hear your testimony and how you grew up.
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So we can go all the way back to the beginning.
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They got married, wanted to have kids for five years and couldn't.
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And they together came to know the Lord and just a couple months later were pregnant with
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So both my sister and I were raised in a Christian home with new believers for parents.
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Cause it's cool to be crunchy now, but y'all were already homeschooling, homesteading back
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So, uh, but yeah, that, that was kind of my, my upbringing.
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And you always wanted to be a professional baseball player.
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Just about when I was five or four years old, actually, I think the Olympics were on,
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I don't know which Olympics it was, but I was like watching people do gymnastics and I was
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So I did gymnastics from when I was like five until I was eight years old.
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And then it's just kind of hard to find a men's gymnastics program.
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So, uh, once I was eight, my dad was like, Hey, we might need to find something else.
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And then from that point on, it was, I want to be professional baseball player.
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Tell me about playing baseball growing up and at what moment you were like, okay, I'm
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And I could actually try my hand at going beyond high school.
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I think it was a plan all along for me to play professionally.
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Even when I started playing, I was obviously wasn't very good when I started starting playing
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I mean, at that point in time, nowadays kids have been playing for like four or five years
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So I wasn't necessarily the greatest out the gate.
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I was pretty athletic though, because of the gymnastics, but, but yeah, in my head,
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I was like, Oh yeah, like I'll, I'll play professional baseball.
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And, and my parents totally were on the same page.
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They're like, Oh yeah, if you want to, like, you can do it.
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So there wasn't, uh, yeah, too much like realism, I guess from them, but they, uh, they
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But yeah, I wanted to be a pro baseball player pretty much after my first game that I ever
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And when would you say, I'm kind of zigzagging a little bit, but when would you say for you,
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I know that you were raised in a Christian home, but was there a moment for you that you were
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And I think I've had this conversation with a lot of people and whenever I share my testimony,
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Um, yeah, there's never been a point in time where that hasn't been the case.
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So that being said, I think that my life has been a lot of, uh, realizing the depth of
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the gospel and, uh, realizing that it's, it is infinitely simple, but it's also infinitely
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And, um, and I, I've realized that, uh, God is a personal God.
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And so, so I guess going throughout my life, yeah, there's not really one moment, but,
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um, and that's like such a beautiful testimony too, because all of us who are Christians,
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I think growing up, I remember like going to church camp and stuff, cause I was raised a
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And people would go around and kind of share their testimonies.
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And there was almost like this desire to have the craziest story or the most radical
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transformation, which of course is really beautiful too.
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I love hearing those testimonies, but there is a lot of beauty and being able to say, I
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It just was a growing understanding of the gospel.
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I think that's the desire of like every Christian parent to have that.
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Okay, so you played throughout middle school, high school,
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and you decided that you were going to try to play in college.
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I was turning 17 years old and I still had never stepped foot in a classroom.
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And I was like, hey, mom, if I want to like keep playing baseball,
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I probably should play like in high school or something.
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So I wound up taking a few classes at a local private Christian school and I played baseball
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there my junior year and then didn't really talk to any colleges till halfway through my
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senior year, but was playing really well and was in the right place at the right time.
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So it was like later on in my senior year when I was 18 that I started talking to colleges
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for the first time and wound up going to UC Riverside, which was right up the street from
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my house. Okay. Yeah. You grew up in California. We, we kind of missed that, which I wonder
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if it was even more rare for your family to be how they were growing up in California or is that
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typical for the area? You would think that it, I feel like California has this like stereotype
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about it, but I'll say like growing up, there were a lot of other homeschool families in the
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area. Um, and a lot of those friends that I had growing up, I'm still really good friends with
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now, which is really special. That's, I guess, another thing that's worth mentioning is I did a
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speech and debate, uh, part of a homeschool speech and debate league. Yeah. And so a lot of my
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friends and I, that's where I met a lot of my friends that I have now, we still, uh, like go
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on trips together and we were, you know, groomsmen and, and, and each other's weddings. And, uh, but
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there is very much a strong Christian homeschool community in California, even when I was growing
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up. So, okay. Speech and debate. Is that something you still enjoy? Like, do you like public speaking?
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Do you like debate now? I do. Yeah. I don't like debate necessarily. I'm not opposed to it. I think
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it's, it's very useful. I do like speaking for sure. And it's cool being with the bananas now and
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doing stuff like this. I think I get to, um, exercise that skill a little bit, but I feel very
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comfortable, uh, speaking and I really do enjoy it. So, and especially with content too, so much of
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what I do on social media, uh, requires me to be able to write, uh, like write out what I want to say.
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And, and so yeah, to be able to develop those skills in high school, I'm really thankful that
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I did it. It really is a skill to be able to write how you would say something and not just
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write how someone would read it. And so it's interesting. I'm sure you never foresaw that
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God would use the skills that you are learning in homeschool debate to make content and to coach
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people in baseball. So, okay. Before we get to there, you went to UC Riverside, right? And then you
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transferred and where'd you transfer to? I transferred to Biola university. Yes. I've
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been to Biola before and that is where you kind of started to thrive as a baseball player, right?
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Yeah, I'd say so. Yeah. At Biola university, I had an okay first year and then my, my next two years
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on the baseball field, at least I did well. So yeah. And then how was the transition going from
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playing in college to professional? What was that like? Yeah, that, that was a difficult transition
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and something I didn't even really, I had my entire life just had this goal of playing professional
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baseball. But once I finally did get signed, I was like, Oh, Oh, I actually did it. I can't believe
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I made it this far. Like I didn't expect that. And so going out to play professional, professional
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baseball for the first time in Florida, uh, big time imposter syndrome, like, okay, whoa. I'm like,
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I'm now surrounded by a lot of guys that have been around the game for a really long time, a lot older
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than me. Um, people who are really high draft picks. And, and so immediately upon getting there,
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it was like, Ooh, okay. I don't know if I'm actually like good enough to be here. I don't
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know how I like weaseled my way into this. Uh, so there were definitely some of those feelings,
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uh, on the field, at least transitioning from college to pro ball.
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And I don't even know anything about that process of going to play professional. So can you
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like fill in those details for us? What does that look like to be chosen and recruited to
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then go play across the country? Yes. To be signed to play professional baseball, there's
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different tiers in professional baseball. So there are certain independent leagues that are separate
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from major league baseball where they'll pay you normally not very much at all. And you'll play in
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these kinds of minor league stadiums normally in some rural place in America. So that's one form
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of professional baseball. Um, and you'll find a lot of really good players. They're oftentimes better
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than college. Uh, then there's affiliated baseball, which is one of the major league organizations has
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signed you. So that was, um, my case I was signed by the Washington nationals. And when you're signed,
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it's normally about a four year process, give or take to get to the big leagues. Okay. So the big
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leagues are the MLB. That's what you see on TV. That's, you know, um, no one ever gets signed and
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goes straight to the big leagues. No one ever does it. You could be the first round draft pick. You get paid
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eight million dollars. You're still going to probably spend quite a few years in the minor
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leagues. Okay. So, um, so I was signed by the nationals, um, in 2021 and then was, uh, just in
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their affiliate system and hoping to work my way up. And after only a year I was, uh, released from
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the organization. So, um, yeah, that was, they just released you. They just say, we don't want you
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anymore. Pretty much. Yeah. They're like, what was that like? Well, um, I didn't expect it to happen
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so quick and normally they give you time in major league, in baseball right now, everyone,
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everything's downsizing. And so when I got, when I got released, I got released with several other
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people who they had also just signed. So it was, uh, I was shocked. Normally they give you like two
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or three years and then, um, but a lot of different organizations were downsizing. So I was part of that
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and yeah, I'll never forget. I was just sitting there, get the tap on the shoulder and the guy's like,
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Hey, you know, come this way. And you know, you kind of just know what that means. And, uh, so
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yeah, at the time I had just, uh, drove out across the country. My wife and I got married in the off
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season and I had just drove across the country from California all the way to Florida, uh, in West
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Palm beach. And then got released two weeks later in, in a spring training. And then I had just like
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unpacked my last thing into my hotel room that I was living out of. And then, uh, and then had to
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pack it all up. They were like, yeah, you gotta be out of here by 11 AM tomorrow. Oh my gosh.
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Whiplash. All right. So yeah. Yeah. Okay. Since you mentioned your wife, we'll go back a little bit.
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I want to hear about how you met your wife. Yes. We met in, I guess, middle school age. Oh,
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she was in eighth grade. I was, I guess ninth grade, but I was homeschooled. So, uh, yeah,
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it didn't really matter. It didn't really matter. I was just, yeah, I was like 15 and, uh, yeah,
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I was 15. She was 14. We met and, uh, she actually, uh, we met through her cousin. Her
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cousin was homeschooled with my sister. Long story. We ended up, uh, we kind of started dating
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that year in 2014. And, um, yeah, so then we, we were together all through high school, college,
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and then got married right before I went to go play or right, I guess, after I went to go play
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pro ball. What was her reaction when you, I guess, came back to the hotel room and she was with you,
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right? And you were like, I just got released. Well, she was actually still at Cal Baptist
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university. Oh, okay. She was finishing up her last year of school. Gotcha. So she was going to come
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join me right when she finished up that, uh, spring semester. And so it was like kind of late March at
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the time. So she had like one month left of school. Yeah. So she was about to come move across the
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country with me. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, that was tough. I just, yeah. Called her on the phone. I was
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like, Hey, I'm on my way back. So. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Moved back in with, uh, her parents initially
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and then moved in with my parents and we were there, uh, to kind of till the end of the year
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in 2022. It is such a blessing to have family that you can rely on. Yeah. Yeah. To be able to fall
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00:17:46.760
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Okay, so what did the next season of life look like?
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For the next couple of months, I wanted to still play. And I had a couple opportunities
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in different countries. And so we're like, hey, do I want to go play in Mexico? Because I had some
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opportunities there. And basically every door that kept opening kept getting shut. And it was like six or
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seven different opportunities in a row. And I was like, all right, I'll take the hint. And I did have
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a desire to share some stuff on social media. And I guess something that's something that's worth
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noting, I guess this is kind of a big detail. I kind of forgot. When when I got signed in 2021,
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I didn't for the nationals with the nationals. Yes. I didn't expect to get signed. I was really hoping
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to get signed, but I hadn't spoken to a scout in months. I wasn't expecting it. I know. But I knew my dad
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was watching the draft tracker. I was watching the draft tracker too. And but when I got signed,
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I was like, okay, I want to tell my dad in a special way. My dad worked at Firestone. And he
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would always tell me batting practice after work. So he's an auto mechanic, did that his whole life.
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And so I wanted to surprise him, tell him that I got signed. So I went to his work and told my mom,
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hey, you should record this. I think this would be cool. Yeah. And so my mom, of course, this moment
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with my dad. And at this point, I had no desire to be on social media at all. Yeah. My social
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media was being used to for my photography page because I did wedding photography. Oh, you did.
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And but my mom records this video of me telling my dad that I got signed and I posted it to TikTok
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without thinking about it. And from that video alone, like that week, I was like ABC World News
00:21:02.820
person of the week. I was on NBC. Like this video just blew up like mega viral. Yeah. And so I got
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a couple hundred thousand followers on TikTok from this. And I had no idea what to do with it. I didn't
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know how to make videos. I didn't have anything to make really. So so I'm just sitting on a couple
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hundred thousand followers and didn't a bunch of people were keeping up with my career. And then
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I get released and I'm like, huh, OK, all these people followed me because they wanted to keep up
00:21:31.300
with my professional baseball journey after this cool story with my dad. And now I'm just, you know,
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living with my parents, not playing anymore. Yeah.
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Um, so for a couple like months there, I was like, OK, I don't like I feel like I want to share
00:21:48.160
some things on social media. I want the next generation of ballplayers to know that they
00:21:51.980
don't have to have their identity wrapped up in how they perform on the field, but they should have
00:21:55.980
their identity in something greater. It takes so much pressure off of you when you're playing.
00:22:00.660
I felt like I had a lot of lessons I wanted to share. Um, but then I was like, OK, but it's
00:22:05.080
uncomfortable for me to post on social media, given like the last people have heard or like
00:22:08.560
that I'm playing professional baseball still. So, um, all that being said, after a couple
00:22:13.280
of months of trying different avenues of playing again, I decided to start making videos. So I made
00:22:17.600
a video and was like, hey, this is what happened, guys. I got released. I'm done playing. Um, in the
00:22:21.700
meantime, I'm just going to, you know, see what's next. And I, I started making, uh, coaching videos.
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I made two, two videos after, after that one, uh, just basic baseball coaching instruction stuff
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on like the mental game. And it, those videos were received really well. And again, my wife and I are
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living like at my parents' house at this point. And I'm like, OK, look, I told Gigi, I was like,
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I really feel like I got something here. That's your wife. Yes. Yes. I was like, I feel like I
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have something here. I feel like I really have a lot of things I want to share. And I feel like
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there's not that much information online, um, about this. And so I was like, for the next three months,
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I'm going to make a video every single day. I'm going to post it to TikTok and post it to Instagram.
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Everything else. And we'll just see where it goes. If doesn't go anywhere, like I'll figure
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something out, probably just book a bunch of weddings and go back to doing photography.
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And, and so you're writing, filming and editing these all by yourself. Did you have anyone who's
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helping you? No. And that takes some time. People don't realize it's not just like two minutes
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setting up your camera. You're really having to like plan it out. Yeah. Yeah. Figuring out the
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microphones. I already had the camera equipment, which was nice. Oh yeah. Um, but then yeah,
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figuring out how to use Adobe Premiere Pro and like watching tutorials. It was a big learning
00:23:38.440
process. So made a video though, every, every day that summer. And by the end of the summer,
00:23:43.480
I had grown a few hundred thousand followers, um, across platforms. And I was like, okay,
00:23:48.300
this, this seems to be like, seems to be picking up traction and like still wasn't making any money
00:23:52.920
from it. But, um, but definitely felt like it was what I was supposed to be doing and I loved doing
00:23:57.700
it. And it was mostly about the actual game and skills or were you weaving in your faith and the
00:24:06.040
mental game and all of that? Yeah. I think the, the faith naturally shines through with a lot of the,
00:24:13.800
a lot of the mental game stuff that I talk about. Cause so much of what I talk about is,
00:24:17.420
is, um, so much of my mission as far as baseball, I want to be the most impactful voice in youth
00:24:23.600
sports. And I think there's youth sports is such a valuable tool for parents to connect with their
00:24:27.680
kids. So much of the time that parents spend with their kids is revolving around sports,
00:24:31.540
especially these days. And so much of the time that parents will spend with their kids
00:24:35.320
happens between the ages of when they're born until they're 18. After that, like, that's what,
00:24:39.740
like after they are 18 and they, they are out of the house, like you've already spent the majority
00:24:44.160
of the time that you're going to spend with them. So those moments that you spend with your kids,
00:24:47.340
uh, on the ball field or by the basketball court, like those moments are so tremendously valuable.
00:24:54.240
And I saw growing up so many people have very complicated, difficult, unhealthy relationships.
00:25:00.920
Um, players had unhealthy relationships with sports and parents had unhealthy relationships with their
00:25:05.660
kids. And so, so much of what my message is on social media is to enjoy the sport, sport,
00:25:14.020
for what it is and see it as an opportunity to grow. And at the same time, don't have your
00:25:18.000
whole identity wrapped up in how you perform on the field. And if you're a parent, don't have your
00:25:22.540
whole identity wrapped up in how your kids perform on the field. Don't try to live vicariously through
00:25:26.780
them. Don't put unnecessary pressure on them. They want to win. They want to succeed. That's
00:25:30.660
naturally built into all of us. You don't have to harp on that too much. So I think so much of when I
00:25:36.000
say these things in videos, a lot of times naturally, like faith comes through, shines through that,
00:25:41.200
right? Because if I'm saying have your identity in something greater, then I have to point to
00:25:45.700
something like, if you believe that your creator made you for a purpose, and then because you are
00:25:53.240
made in the image of God, that is where you get your value from, then, uh, you don't have to find
00:25:58.740
value in what other people say about you. You don't have to find your value in how good you are on the
00:26:02.520
field. And so that really shines through in a lot of my content. Initially, I didn't, um, there wasn't
00:26:08.440
any prayer scripture type, you know, churchy stuff that would shine through in content. Um,
00:26:13.740
that's been, I think it made its way into my content a lot more recently. Yeah. Um,
00:26:21.020
and I think the only reason that is, it's not that I have some sort of agenda. It's, I feel like
00:26:25.160
I have like been really experiencing the grace of God and his goodness in my life. And when that
00:26:31.280
happens, a lot of times I can't help but share that with other people. So, and, and it's so cool
00:26:36.200
seeing what he's doing with, with my teammates and stuff now. So a lot of my content now is sharing
00:26:41.140
about that kind of stuff that's happening, but I don't think that I have some sort of like
00:26:45.260
Christian agenda with my page though. Um, I just, I, I feel like I have experienced such a beautiful,
00:26:52.580
good thing and I want other people to experience that as well. Yeah. What is the response been as
00:26:57.620
you've been more over and sharing your faith? Overwhelmingly positive. I don't, yeah. I mean,
00:27:03.720
there's, there's obviously going to be some people who, who rubs them the wrong way. And I,
00:27:08.740
I, I, I really feel for those people because I think a lot of times that it stems from having
00:27:13.500
been, having been hurt by someone in the church or, um, they latch these attributes onto God,
00:27:19.520
um, that are actually just attributes of sinful people. Um, but yeah, the response has been
00:27:25.920
overwhelmingly positive. It's really encouraging. Just a few weeks ago, um, this was at, uh, we were,
00:27:32.500
we have this, these things called fans first chats with the Savannah bananas where after a game,
00:27:36.380
we will just give shout outs, um, to things that we saw happen that weekend. And, uh, the owner,
00:27:44.300
Emily Cole kind of gave a shout out that was really special. There was just a mom who, who had, uh,
00:27:49.040
her daughter was just in surgery and, um, and I guess she, she found great like kind of peace and
00:27:55.140
comfort, I guess, in, in some of the, uh, in one of my videos that was just a prayer and the prayer
00:27:59.620
itself was just a prayer over the, over the stadium and, and a prayer for, uh, the game we were about
00:28:04.320
to have, but, um, she was able to draw some sort of peace and comfort from it. So it's really
00:28:08.840
encouraging seeing the impact that it's having. And when kids come up to me and, and, you know,
00:28:14.160
ask me, Hey, what's your favorite Bible verse? Or what do you think about this? Or, um, it's,
00:28:18.120
it's cool seeing the, the impact that's, that's being had. Um, yeah, it's really encouraging.
00:28:24.160
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Okay. So tell me about playing for the Savannah Bananas. How did that happen?
00:29:52.640
I was two years out of playing and I had no desire to play again. I think part of it was like,
00:29:57.620
I had some, I always had the dream of playing in these big stadiums and like being a professional
00:30:03.000
baseball player. And then a lot of that was, you know, ended up just not being God's will. And,
00:30:09.280
and so I think I was like done playing and I really didn't want to play. I had some,
00:30:13.880
I think emotions there that I was like, I don't, I don't want to like reopen this. I don't want to
00:30:18.180
go back to playing. I don't want to go back to competing necessarily. And, uh, but at the end
00:30:21.860
of 2023, a friend of mine was like, Hey, the Savannah Bananas got a tryout in your area. This
00:30:27.140
is in Southern California. Um, and I was like, I'm good. Like appreciate it. Like I really don't want
00:30:33.180
to. And, and, uh, he was like, you know, they just released their schedule. They're going to be
00:30:37.020
playing in like six major league stadiums next year. Um, like, I really think you should at least
00:30:42.140
like try out and just see what happens. Yeah. Finally, like initially I didn't want to. And
00:30:48.260
then I really thought about it for a while and talk with Gigi about it and prayed about it. And I was
00:30:51.740
like, all right, like I kind of, I'll go to the tryout and see what happens. So I did that and,
00:30:58.360
um, did really well at the tryout. And again, I mentioned earlier, I did gymnastics, you know,
00:31:03.780
growing up. And so like, I was able to incorporate a lot of the acrobatic stuff that I did growing up.
00:31:08.020
And, and then as far as social media goes, like the bananas are big on, you know, having a social
00:31:13.520
media presence. And I already had that. And so in so many ways, it seemed like such a great fit.
00:31:19.320
And so Gigi and I kind of packed up our stuff and moved out to Savannah, Georgia, uh, right at the
00:31:26.560
beginning of, of, uh, last year, 2024. Okay. Some people have no idea what we're even talking about
00:31:32.100
Savannah bananas. So how would you describe like in a couple of sentences, what it is?
00:31:37.880
Savannah bananas are a new adaptation of baseball where at its core, it's still baseball. You still
00:31:43.760
have a pitcher, you still have a hitter. It's the same, you know, four bases, all that. Um,
00:31:47.680
however, there are a lot of different rules that kind of speed up the game and tailor it to a newer
00:31:52.260
audience. So we are still competing. We're trying to win. There are standings, there are stats.
00:31:55.620
Um, but if a fan catches a foul ball, it's an out. If a pitcher walks a guy instead of a ball for just
00:32:04.760
walk to first base, it's called a ball for sprint. Every single defender needs to touch the ball
00:32:08.600
before they can tag the runner out. So it turns into a much more exciting play. There are, there are,
00:32:13.540
I want to say 10 different rules that have been added to the game of baseball to make it more
00:32:16.880
exciting, speed up the game a little bit. We're on a time clock. It's a two hour game. So it's not
00:32:21.260
like a three, four hour baseball game that you'd be used to. So, um, all the while,
00:32:25.620
when we do score a run and, uh, we have preprint pre-planned celebrations that we will do.
00:32:34.140
So sometimes we never, we don't score and we don't get to do any of these, but, uh, in case we do
00:32:39.580
score, we'll have these, uh, pre-planned celebrations. We have hitter walk-ups, you know,
00:32:44.500
normally in baseball, you have a hitter, have a walk-up song, um, that'll just play as they walk
00:32:48.220
up to home plate and then they go about their business. But like, we'll do a whole walk-up
00:32:51.460
production, you know, where we're doing a whole choreographed dance to one direction or whatever.
00:32:57.180
And so, yeah, Savannah bananas. Um, have you ever been to a game?
00:33:01.340
I've never been to a game. No, I've only seen the videos online.
00:33:04.420
It's so interactive for any of you watching. Like I, I couldn't recommend it highly enough.
00:33:10.500
You could be sitting in the third deck in a stadium with 80,000 people in it. And you'll
00:33:16.140
probably come into contact with either one of the players or one of the cast members as they call
00:33:22.500
it. Uh, Jesse Cole's brilliant, but I'm telling you, it is such a, um, like intimate experience as
00:33:30.200
a fan and it's a, it takes a lot of work to put on this production. Um, but yeah, I don't even know
00:33:37.660
how to describe it. You just have to go to a game.
00:33:39.300
Yes. I mean, I first, I remember seeing the videos and I was like, what is going on? Because
00:33:44.700
it just looks so different. And obviously like the uniforms are different, a little more casual,
00:33:50.860
sometimes goofy. And so, but my, um, nephews who live in Georgia, they just like love it so much.
00:33:59.520
And then I started to see a faith aspect. It seems like in a lot of the content that's produced,
00:34:04.640
it's not that it's like an exclusively Christian team, but it seems like there are other teammates
00:34:10.060
that, you know, are very public about their faith. And it seems to be kind of an unapologetic part
00:34:16.560
about your games with like the pregame prayers and things like that. Is that the case?
00:34:22.040
Yeah. The, the organization is not a Christian organization. Um, the players, many of them are,
00:34:29.780
and that's been really cool to see last year at the beginning of the season, we started,
00:34:34.480
uh, we were, we committed to every single week. We're going to have a Bible study. We'll just,
00:34:38.500
you know, cause a lot of times on Sundays we're playing or we're on the road. And so we really
00:34:43.680
just need a community. I, when I was with the nationals, I really realized that too. Like I,
00:34:47.640
I really need community. Um, that's something that's been like a reoccurring theme for me is like,
00:34:51.380
I need to be connected to the body. And so that being said, when I first got to the bananas,
00:34:56.660
connected with a couple other, um, players who were believers, I'm like, okay, let's,
00:35:00.400
let's meet every single week. Um, at least once every week for the rest of the year.
00:35:04.380
And we did that last year, which was really cool. And got to see some fruit of that this year.
00:35:08.720
We were like, okay, let's do the same thing, but let's dedicate ourselves to praying a little bit
00:35:13.880
more. I had just, just read a book. It's called, uh, praying like monks, living like fools.
00:35:19.980
And I felt really convicted after reading it because I realized that so many of the prayers that I pray
00:35:25.300
are, I'm like hedging for God in a lot of ways. I'm like, I don't want to pray for this person
00:35:31.460
necessarily too much because I don't want to be disappointed when I feel like God hasn't worked
00:35:35.320
on their life or like, it's, you know what I mean? So finally I was like, no, like I'm experiencing
00:35:40.520
such a beautiful thing in relationship with God. I feel like I have the craziest schedule and yet I
00:35:45.500
have this like deep rooted peace and rest. And I want other people to have that. So regardless,
00:35:51.300
like what I, what I learned from this book is like, I need to pray bold prayers and not like
00:35:57.900
if I pray for someone for 20 years and they still don't know the name of Jesus and still
00:36:02.800
don't have a relationship with him, I'm going to keep praying for them nonetheless, because
00:36:06.080
I truly believe that that is like where the treasure of life is. And so we kind of committed
00:36:11.340
to praying for teammates by name, like, okay, we're going to write it down who we're praying
00:36:15.960
for and we're going to pray for them by name. We're going to pray that we have a conversation
00:36:18.840
with them at practice this week specifically. And we started praying like very specific
00:36:23.680
targeted prayers. And it feels like one by one, like God's just working on different people's
00:36:31.740
hearts and the organization. And so we've gotten to see our, our little small Bible study grow
00:36:37.600
tremendously. And just a couple weeks ago, we hosted our first, but it was the first time
00:36:43.500
we've done this, but we, we hosted our first like public worship night. And so we, yeah,
00:36:50.380
we're able to set up right outside the stadium and invited the public to come on out and we had
00:36:56.220
our first worship night. So that is awesome. Okay. We have a video clip of you praying before the
00:37:03.280
game. This is up for tonight. The Savannah bananas will play on ESPN at Fenway park. You guys know the
00:37:08.680
drill. Let's pray God tonight. My friends and I are going to be playing in front of a lot of people,
00:37:12.340
not just here in person, but even on TV. Lord, I pray that you would use tonight in some way to
00:37:17.040
bring real value to the people that are watching, not just some escape at the ballpark for a night,
00:37:21.700
not just something fun to watch on TV, but I pray that at the very least seeds would be planted.
00:37:25.180
People watching my friends and I would be able to see that our hope is in something greater,
00:37:29.100
something so much more meaningful than just being seen by a lot of people. My friends and I have
00:37:32.860
experienced firsthand this year, the true joy, true peace, true satisfaction doesn't come through
00:37:37.440
accomplishment. It doesn't come through success. It comes through relationship with you,
00:37:40.660
relationship with each other. It's through love. Lord, somehow, someway use this game that we are
00:37:44.560
playing. Help us share that love that you've already shown to us. Pray that the people sitting
00:37:48.220
in these seats would see our joy, see our peace, even performing on a big stage, and that it would
00:37:52.460
make them curious. Lord, I truly believe that we have found a good thing and I just want to share it.
00:37:56.460
Thank you so much for this opportunity. This has always been a dream of mine. In Jesus name. Amen.
00:38:01.140
So I'm guessing the response from your teammates who might not identify as Christian, like it seems
00:38:07.900
like it's pretty positive. Like it's a Christian positive atmosphere.
00:38:12.640
Absolutely. The fruits of the spirit are a beautiful thing. And regardless of what you believe to be in
00:38:20.680
a clubhouse environment where we are all like serving each other and loving each other and having fun,
00:38:26.040
like it's, it's, it's the best. Like we have so much fun. Yeah. Our clubhouse dynamic is the best.
00:38:31.560
Like I, I, I genuinely look forward to showing up to the field every day. Well, yeah, this camp
00:38:36.440
we're about to do here in Dallas, bringing a bunch of teammates with me. We've got like 30 guys and
00:38:40.500
like, I just can't wait to go hang out with them. So yeah. Yeah. Okay. Tell me about the camp.
00:38:44.440
Okay. So my, uh, in, at the end of 2022, this is when I'm doing content and I'm like, okay,
00:38:49.540
I'm not making any money doing this, but I'm like, I, but I kind of need to,
00:38:53.900
cause Gigi and I are still living at my parents' house. I was like, okay, maybe like I could do
00:38:57.500
baseball camps, maybe I could do lessons, you know, I don't know. And, and so that's initially
00:39:01.800
like kind of how it started. And we ended up doing this, this first camp, uh, called it not your
00:39:06.960
average baseball camp. And we were like, you know what, we're going to go above and beyond over the
00:39:11.040
top with these kids. Like a lot of the, at this point in time, I'd already built a following on
00:39:14.940
social media. And I was like, okay, a lot of these kids are already going to know who we are,
00:39:17.680
me and some of my friends who also make videos. And so we're like, okay, these kids are already going to
00:39:22.420
know who we are. What are, what are some things that they would really enjoy? Oh, they'd probably
00:39:25.680
love being in a video with us. Okay. Well, right when they walk in, let's interview them and like
00:39:29.820
make videos for social media that they might, they could be part of like, you know, our pages.
00:39:33.740
So that's kind of what it started as was let's, um, make the most like not average experience
00:39:39.120
possible for these kids and then just, just treat them like royalty. And so we did that. We did this
00:39:43.520
first camp and we lost $10,000. We were like, um, and, but it was amazing. It was the best
00:39:51.520
experience. And so many of the coaches that we had, we had them out from all over the country
00:39:56.320
and we had just the time of our lives and the kids had the time of their lives. And we're like,
00:39:59.900
okay, we've got to keep doing this in some capacity. So, uh, fast forward, we've now had
00:40:04.260
four of these camps. This'll be our fifth one. And, um, yeah, our first camp, we had like 60 kids and,
00:40:10.420
and, uh, we had like 12 coaches, uh, this, this camp coming up, we've got like 30
00:40:17.480
lead coaches and we've got about 70 helpers to helping the 30 coaches. And we're going to have
00:40:22.160
about a thousand kids over the next week. So it's going to be very fun.
00:40:25.120
That is awesome. Is there a faith component to the camp or not really?
00:40:28.780
You know, we finished the, every camp with a prayer. It's not specifically a Christian camp.
00:40:34.880
Yeah. Um, it really does naturally shine through though. It kind of can't help but do so.
00:40:39.380
Yeah, that is awesome. Okay. You kind of already gave this message earlier when you were talking
00:40:44.260
about the kind of content that you post on Tik TOK, but for parents of athletes out there and
00:40:52.240
for kids who are athletes or maybe young adults too, like what is the message that you have for
00:40:58.180
them? How did they balance being competitive, wanting to be excellent and the best at what they
00:41:03.180
do, steward their gifts well, while also ensuring that it doesn't become an idol and doesn't become
00:41:14.260
You'll never experience more joy, fulfillment. You'll never experience more joy and fulfillment
00:41:22.200
than you will when you have relationship with one who created you and when you're in community
00:41:26.920
with other believers. Like I, I truly believe that in so many moments. Um, I guess my message
00:41:33.920
would be to those athletes, like really think through what it is that you want. A lot of times
00:41:38.940
you want to be in the spotlight. A lot of times you want to be successful. You want to have
00:41:42.280
that big moment and coming from someone who has met numerous people who have had those
00:41:48.120
big moments. I, myself now I've had those big moments. I've hit home runs in stadiums
00:41:51.480
with, you know, 70,000 people in them. And the day after the big moment that you've been
00:41:57.480
looking forward to your entire life, you wake up and you feel totally normal again. That same
00:42:03.220
emptiness that you have in you before you have it in you still. And then you go do dishes
00:42:08.180
and life is still the same. And so much of our lives are spent chasing that big high,
00:42:15.420
that next thing. And it's, it's a lie that it's a lie that we believe that that's where
00:42:25.520
true satisfaction, that's where true contentment comes from. It's the original sin, right?
00:42:28.900
Like, no, like what God's given you isn't enough. You need this. And so my encouragement would be
00:42:36.220
this, what you, this romanticized vision of what it will be like if you make it, even if you do make
00:42:43.760
it, it's not gonna be what you think it is. And maybe it does satisfy you for a little bit. Maybe
00:42:48.640
you're the best player that ever lived and that satisfies you until you're 50, 60 years old and
00:42:53.140
then you're done playing. And then now what? One way or another, who you are, your identity,
00:42:58.580
who you become in the process is what is so important because who you become in the process
00:43:04.000
will determine what fruit you're left with at the end of it. And if you spend your time
00:43:08.040
only focused on me, even if you're becoming excellent at what you do, you're not going to
00:43:14.880
have good fruit in your life at the end of your career. And when I say good fruit, I mean love,
00:43:19.920
joy, peace, patience. And so my encouragement to kids would be like, work hard and be excellent
00:43:27.040
and be the best that you can be. Like to this day, I feel more motivated now to be the best that I can
00:43:33.640
possibly be than ever before. And it's not because I feel like I have to earn anything. It's not because
00:43:38.780
I feel like I'll be loved more if I am more superior. It's just like, it's naturally like built
00:43:43.940
in me, you know, like I want to be excellent. And, um, and sometimes, sometimes I'm lazy and,
00:43:50.940
you know, I have to like force it, you know, but, but like my encouragement to athletes would be like,
00:43:54.980
be the best that you can be. Like, why wouldn't you? Like it is, your life is a gift. Like every
00:43:59.100
breath that you have is a gift, like be excellent. And then at the same time, realize that that deep
00:44:05.120
satisfaction that you crave in your soul cannot be met by anything that you achieve.
00:44:10.700
Um, so it's a balance, but the, where my head's at now is like, okay, anytime I have a tough day
00:44:16.520
at the field, my mentality is like, okay, this is a character building day for me. I get to, I get to,
00:44:21.800
I get to strengthen my patients. I get to serve other people and not make it about me. Oh, I went
00:44:26.200
over four, three strikeouts. Okay. But my teammate went two for three with a double. He had a good day
00:44:31.020
at the plate. I'm going to celebrate his wins and not be so focused on me. It's an opportunity to grow
00:44:35.320
your character every single day. And so focus more about who you are becoming in the process.
00:44:40.120
Don't focus so much on the future down the road and don't miss those moments. Like I mentioned
00:44:46.880
earlier that so much of the time that parents spend with their kids is on the ball field. Like
00:44:51.000
don't miss those moments. If you are playing 12U baseball right now, then enjoy 12U baseball and
00:44:57.860
like, look forward to that. Look forward to today. Don't worry about tomorrow. Look forward to today.
00:45:03.720
Uh, so many times in my career, I was looking forward to the future. I can't wait to go play pro
00:45:07.700
ball. I can't wait to go play college ball. And then I look back and some of my favorite times
00:45:11.160
playing were when I was 12 years old with my travel team. Yeah. So don't miss the moments in
00:45:16.560
the present. Focus on who you're becoming in the process and realize that in the long term,
00:45:21.800
the, the things that truly satisfy your soul, uh, the only thing that I found is a relationship
00:45:27.080
with the one who's created me. That's so good. That's such a good word. Okay. If you want to follow
00:45:31.600
you, how can they do that and find out about Savannah bananas and your camp, all that good
00:45:38.340
stuff? Yeah. Uh, coach rack it's at coach dot rack on like Tik TOK, Instagram on YouTube. It's just
00:45:45.100
coach rack. Um, I make longer videos on YouTube. Those are more like 30, 40 minutes. I'm, I have
00:45:51.620
this whole like YouTube series going this year. That's really fun that, uh, kind of showing off
00:45:55.660
every stadium that we're going to and the experience and I'm miked up for at bats. And so really good
00:46:00.300
stuff. So if you want a deep dive, go on YouTube. Uh, if you want the little like snippets, then go
00:46:04.340
Tik TOK, Instagram, but yeah, coach rack is where you can find it. And obviously Savannah bananas,
00:46:09.100
they got like 10 million followers on Tik TOK, but you all have probably seen them. But if not,
00:46:13.380
yeah, yeah. Savannah banana at the Savannah bananas, I think on Tik TOK. And they can find like their
00:46:18.020
schedule and everything there. Yeah. Yeah. If you just, yeah. Look at them on Google or whatever you
00:46:22.400
use, it'll come up. It'll, it'll show up. Yeah. Okay. And if they're interested in sending their
00:46:26.240
kids to your camp, I guess would they have to wait till next year to do that?
00:46:30.080
Yeah. Probably wait till next year. And this one filled up really quick. We had a total of a
00:46:34.400
thousand spots and we were able to sell it out really quick. So we want to upscale. We're kind
00:46:39.400
of conflicted because we want to upscale, but then so much of the value that we had last time was
00:46:42.780
having like this, this really good coach to player ratio. So we don't really know what to do with that,
00:46:48.540
but yeah, it's a good problem to have though. No doubt. Yeah. I guess if, if you want to check out
00:46:53.600
nyabaseball.com, that's our website. And we have this community. Um, we try to meet every Tuesday where
00:46:59.720
we'll just hop on a zoom call with kids and answer their questions about baseball and whatnot. Um,
00:47:04.340
we it's turned into more of like a once a month thing because both Ange and I who run NYABC,
00:47:09.480
not your average baseball camp, like we're pretty busy. So we hop on when we can, but nyabaseball.com.
00:47:14.600
Yeah. Okay. That's awesome. Well, Coach Rock, thanks so much for taking the time to join us. I really