Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 1225 ｜ The Savannah Bananas Player Bringing Jesus to Baseball ｜ RobertAnthony Cruz (Coach RAC)

00:00:00.000 Coach Rack is an extremely popular TikToker who teaches kids the basics of baseball and 0.97

00:00:09.200 how to love the game in a way that also glorifies God.

00:00:13.400 He is a player for the very famous Savannah Bananas banana ball team.

00:00:20.320 I'm sure if you don't know who Coach Rack is, your son does.

00:00:24.720 This is a super fun and encouraging conversation that you are going to love.

00:00:28.800 It's brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers.

00:00:31.340 Go to GoodRanchers.com.

00:00:32.960 Use code Allie at checkout. 1.00

00:00:34.320 That's GoodRanchers.com, code Allie.

00:00:45.580 Okay, y'all, before we get into that fun conversation with Coach Rack, I want to remind you to please

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00:01:25.280 Thank you so much.

00:01:26.940 And now, without further ado, here's Coach Rack.

00:01:33.880 Coach Rack, thanks so much for taking the time to join us.

00:01:36.880 Thanks for having me.

00:01:37.880 Okay, Coach Rack.

00:01:39.160 Have you always been called Coach Rack?

00:01:41.080 No, I have not.

00:01:42.340 Did you come up with that name?

00:01:44.460 I actually did.

00:01:45.420 Yeah.

00:01:45.540 You did.

00:01:46.000 I didn't come up with the Rack part.

00:01:47.600 It's my initials, kind of.

00:01:49.340 My first name is Robert Anthony.

00:01:50.720 Okay.

00:01:50.940 And then Cruz is my last name.

00:01:52.680 And when I was with the Nationals, one of my coaches started calling me Rack, and that

00:01:56.780 kind of stuck.

00:01:57.500 Yeah.

00:01:57.720 And I started making coaching videos in 2022 after getting released from the Nationals.

00:02:04.080 And so when I started making videos, I was like, okay, Robert Anthony Cruz, as my username,

00:02:07.540 is kind of like, kind of a mouthful, you know?

00:02:09.540 Yeah.

00:02:09.760 I wanted it to be like, if someone could watch one of my videos, they can tell their friends,

00:02:13.360 oh, you know, I watched this on the Coach Rack video.

00:02:15.400 So, yeah, I came up with the name Coach Rack and kind of just stuck.

00:02:18.540 Mm-hmm.

00:02:18.880 It is very catchy.

00:02:20.160 Okay.

00:02:20.340 I just wanted to talk about your story and hear about not just your baseball career,

00:02:24.780 but obviously you're very strong in your Christian faith.

00:02:27.520 So I want to hear your testimony and how you grew up.

00:02:30.180 So we can go all the way back to the beginning.

00:02:32.080 Sweet.

00:02:32.880 All right.

00:02:33.180 Well, I don't know how far back should we go.

00:02:36.000 You know, let's go all the way back.

00:02:37.160 Okay.

00:02:37.400 Let's go all the way back.

00:02:38.040 Before I was born.

00:02:38.900 Okay.

00:02:39.560 My parents were not believers when they met.

00:02:42.760 They got married, wanted to have kids for five years and couldn't.

00:02:46.820 And they together came to know the Lord and just a couple months later were pregnant with

00:02:53.340 my sister.

00:02:54.640 So both my sister and I were raised in a Christian home with new believers for parents. 0.98

00:03:01.720 And so we were both homeschooled.

00:03:04.760 I, yeah, my mom had a garden outside.

00:03:08.260 We had chickens.

00:03:09.440 Okay.

00:03:10.060 So y'all were crunchy before crunchy was cool.

00:03:13.200 Yes.

00:03:13.600 Cause it's cool to be crunchy now, but y'all were already homeschooling, homesteading back

00:03:18.500 in the day.

00:03:19.420 Yeah.

00:03:19.960 Yeah.

00:03:20.140 My mom's a trailblazer in that sense.

00:03:22.640 So yeah, yeah, very much.

00:03:24.140 We were very much a granola.

00:03:25.880 So, uh, but yeah, that, that was kind of my, my upbringing.

00:03:29.420 Okay.

00:03:29.820 And you grew up playing baseball.

00:03:31.900 Yes.

00:03:32.480 And you always wanted to be a professional baseball player.

00:03:35.120 Just about when I was five or four years old, actually, I think the Olympics were on,

00:03:40.320 I don't know which Olympics it was, but I was like watching people do gymnastics and I was

00:03:44.520 like, okay, I want to do that.

00:03:46.260 So I did gymnastics for a couple of years.

00:03:48.120 My sister did it before me.

00:03:49.500 So I did gymnastics from when I was like five until I was eight years old.

00:03:52.980 And then it's just kind of hard to find a men's gymnastics program.

00:03:56.560 So, uh, once I was eight, my dad was like, Hey, we might need to find something else.

00:04:00.980 So then I started playing baseball.

00:04:03.140 And then from that point on, it was, I want to be professional baseball player.

00:04:06.480 Okay.

00:04:06.880 And so tell me about that.

00:04:08.820 Tell me about playing baseball growing up and at what moment you were like, okay, I'm

00:04:13.180 good at this.

00:04:14.020 And I could actually try my hand at going beyond high school.

00:04:18.380 Yeah.

00:04:18.780 I think it was a plan all along for me to play professionally.

00:04:21.380 Even when I started playing, I was obviously wasn't very good when I started starting playing

00:04:24.860 ball at eight, nine years old.

00:04:26.260 I mean, at that point in time, nowadays kids have been playing for like four or five years

00:04:29.380 already.

00:04:30.000 Yeah.

00:04:30.340 So I wasn't necessarily the greatest out the gate.

00:04:32.880 I was pretty athletic though, because of the gymnastics, but, but yeah, in my head,

00:04:36.880 I was like, Oh yeah, like I'll, I'll play professional baseball.

00:04:38.860 And, and my parents totally were on the same page.

00:04:41.080 They're like, Oh yeah, if you want to, like, you can do it.

00:04:42.720 And like, yeah.

00:04:44.140 So there wasn't, uh, yeah, too much like realism, I guess from them, but they, uh, they

00:04:47.880 were very supportive of, of that, that dream.

00:04:49.900 But yeah, I wanted to be a pro baseball player pretty much after my first game that I ever

00:04:53.800 played.

00:04:54.220 So yeah.

00:04:55.040 And when would you say, I'm kind of zigzagging a little bit, but when would you say for you,

00:04:59.240 you really became a Christian?

00:05:00.600 I know that you were raised in a Christian home, but was there a moment for you that you were

00:05:04.560 like, okay, this faith is, is mine.

00:05:06.600 It's real.

00:05:07.340 Yeah.

00:05:07.620 I don't think there was a specific moment.

00:05:09.440 And I think I've had this conversation with a lot of people and whenever I share my testimony,

00:05:12.840 I never have this one moment to point to.

00:05:15.840 I have always known, uh, that I am a sinner.

00:05:20.980 I've always known that I need grace.

00:05:22.960 Um, yeah, there's never been a point in time where that hasn't been the case.

00:05:27.320 So that being said, I think that my life has been a lot of, uh, realizing the depth of

00:05:35.160 the gospel and, uh, realizing that it's, it is infinitely simple, but it's also infinitely

00:05:40.600 complex.

00:05:41.160 And, um, and I, I've realized that, uh, God is a personal God.

00:05:46.620 And so, so I guess going throughout my life, yeah, there's not really one moment, but,

00:05:53.080 um, and that's like such a beautiful testimony too, because all of us who are Christians,

00:05:58.560 we want our kids to have that testimony.

00:06:00.900 I think growing up, I remember like going to church camp and stuff, cause I was raised a

00:06:05.040 Christian too, very grateful for that.

00:06:07.020 And people would go around and kind of share their testimonies.

00:06:10.000 And there was almost like this desire to have the craziest story or the most radical

00:06:15.800 transformation, which of course is really beautiful too.

00:06:18.820 I love hearing those testimonies, but there is a lot of beauty and being able to say, I

00:06:24.500 never didn't know that I needed grace.

00:06:27.560 It just was a growing understanding of the gospel.

00:06:30.280 I think that's the desire of like every Christian parent to have that.

00:06:34.280 No doubt.

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00:09:47.320 Okay, so you played throughout middle school, high school,

00:09:52.620 and you decided that you were going to try to play in college.

00:09:55.480 Tell us how that worked out.

00:09:58.000 I was turning 17 years old and I still had never stepped foot in a classroom.

00:10:03.920 I was homeschooled my whole life.

00:10:05.460 And I was like, hey, mom, if I want to like keep playing baseball,

00:10:07.440 I probably should play like in high school or something.

00:10:10.060 So I wound up taking a few classes at a local private Christian school and I played baseball

00:10:15.900 there my junior year and then didn't really talk to any colleges till halfway through my

00:10:23.120 senior year, but was playing really well and was in the right place at the right time.

00:10:28.560 So it was like later on in my senior year when I was 18 that I started talking to colleges

00:10:34.320 for the first time and wound up going to UC Riverside, which was right up the street from

00:10:38.460 my house. Okay. Yeah. You grew up in California. We, we kind of missed that, which I wonder

00:10:43.220 if it was even more rare for your family to be how they were growing up in California or is that

00:10:48.940 typical for the area? You would think that it, I feel like California has this like stereotype

00:10:54.320 about it, but I'll say like growing up, there were a lot of other homeschool families in the

00:10:58.780 area. Um, and a lot of those friends that I had growing up, I'm still really good friends with

00:11:03.860 now, which is really special. That's, I guess, another thing that's worth mentioning is I did a

00:11:08.260 speech and debate, uh, part of a homeschool speech and debate league. Yeah. And so a lot of my

00:11:13.440 friends and I, that's where I met a lot of my friends that I have now, we still, uh, like go

00:11:17.020 on trips together and we were, you know, groomsmen and, and, and each other's weddings. And, uh, but

00:11:22.720 there is very much a strong Christian homeschool community in California, even when I was growing

00:11:29.560 up. So, okay. Speech and debate. Is that something you still enjoy? Like, do you like public speaking?

00:11:35.080 Do you like debate now? I do. Yeah. I don't like debate necessarily. I'm not opposed to it. I think

00:11:41.220 it's, it's very useful. I do like speaking for sure. And it's cool being with the bananas now and

00:11:48.300 doing stuff like this. I think I get to, um, exercise that skill a little bit, but I feel very

00:11:52.660 comfortable, uh, speaking and I really do enjoy it. So, and especially with content too, so much of

00:11:57.560 what I do on social media, uh, requires me to be able to write, uh, like write out what I want to say.

00:12:02.740 And, and so yeah, to be able to develop those skills in high school, I'm really thankful that

00:12:07.180 I did it. It really is a skill to be able to write how you would say something and not just

00:12:12.520 write how someone would read it. And so it's interesting. I'm sure you never foresaw that

00:12:17.460 God would use the skills that you are learning in homeschool debate to make content and to coach

00:12:24.140 people in baseball. So, okay. Before we get to there, you went to UC Riverside, right? And then you

00:12:30.080 transferred and where'd you transfer to? I transferred to Biola university. Yes. I've

00:12:35.080 been to Biola before and that is where you kind of started to thrive as a baseball player, right?

00:12:40.160 Yeah, I'd say so. Yeah. At Biola university, I had an okay first year and then my, my next two years

00:12:47.020 on the baseball field, at least I did well. So yeah. And then how was the transition going from

00:12:52.000 playing in college to professional? What was that like? Yeah, that, that was a difficult transition

00:12:57.800 and something I didn't even really, I had my entire life just had this goal of playing professional

00:13:03.960 baseball. But once I finally did get signed, I was like, Oh, Oh, I actually did it. I can't believe

00:13:09.360 I made it this far. Like I didn't expect that. And so going out to play professional, professional

00:13:15.180 baseball for the first time in Florida, uh, big time imposter syndrome, like, okay, whoa. I'm like,

00:13:21.380 I'm now surrounded by a lot of guys that have been around the game for a really long time, a lot older

00:13:25.160 than me. Um, people who are really high draft picks. And, and so immediately upon getting there,

00:13:31.320 it was like, Ooh, okay. I don't know if I'm actually like good enough to be here. I don't

00:13:35.240 know how I like weaseled my way into this. Uh, so there were definitely some of those feelings,

00:13:39.220 uh, on the field, at least transitioning from college to pro ball.

00:13:43.000 And I don't even know anything about that process of going to play professional. So can you

00:13:49.280 like fill in those details for us? What does that look like to be chosen and recruited to

00:13:55.120 then go play across the country? Yes. To be signed to play professional baseball, there's

00:14:00.140 different tiers in professional baseball. So there are certain independent leagues that are separate

00:14:04.860 from major league baseball where they'll pay you normally not very much at all. And you'll play in

00:14:09.080 these kinds of minor league stadiums normally in some rural place in America. So that's one form

00:14:14.800 of professional baseball. Um, and you'll find a lot of really good players. They're oftentimes better

00:14:19.140 than college. Uh, then there's affiliated baseball, which is one of the major league organizations has

00:14:25.840 signed you. So that was, um, my case I was signed by the Washington nationals. And when you're signed,

00:14:31.840 it's normally about a four year process, give or take to get to the big leagues. Okay. So the big

00:14:36.880 leagues are the MLB. That's what you see on TV. That's, you know, um, no one ever gets signed and

00:14:41.180 goes straight to the big leagues. No one ever does it. You could be the first round draft pick. You get paid

00:14:44.420 eight million dollars. You're still going to probably spend quite a few years in the minor

00:14:47.420 leagues. Okay. So, um, so I was signed by the nationals, um, in 2021 and then was, uh, just in

00:14:55.860 their affiliate system and hoping to work my way up. And after only a year I was, uh, released from

00:15:01.280 the organization. So, um, yeah, that was, they just released you. They just say, we don't want you

00:15:06.380 anymore. Pretty much. Yeah. They're like, what was that like? Well, um, I didn't expect it to happen

00:15:12.780 so quick and normally they give you time in major league, in baseball right now, everyone,

00:15:17.220 everything's downsizing. And so when I got, when I got released, I got released with several other

00:15:22.180 people who they had also just signed. So it was, uh, I was shocked. Normally they give you like two

00:15:28.280 or three years and then, um, but a lot of different organizations were downsizing. So I was part of that

00:15:34.300 and yeah, I'll never forget. I was just sitting there, get the tap on the shoulder and the guy's like,

00:15:37.860 Hey, you know, come this way. And you know, you kind of just know what that means. And, uh, so

00:15:42.400 yeah, at the time I had just, uh, drove out across the country. My wife and I got married in the off

00:15:47.000 season and I had just drove across the country from California all the way to Florida, uh, in West

00:15:52.840 Palm beach. And then got released two weeks later in, in a spring training. And then I had just like

00:15:58.540 unpacked my last thing into my hotel room that I was living out of. And then, uh, and then had to

00:16:03.920 pack it all up. They were like, yeah, you gotta be out of here by 11 AM tomorrow. Oh my gosh.

00:16:09.300 Whiplash. All right. So yeah. Yeah. Okay. Since you mentioned your wife, we'll go back a little bit.

00:16:15.300 I want to hear about how you met your wife. Yes. We met in, I guess, middle school age. Oh,

00:16:22.480 she was in eighth grade. I was, I guess ninth grade, but I was homeschooled. So, uh, yeah,

00:16:28.540 it didn't really matter. It didn't really matter. I was just, yeah, I was like 15 and, uh, yeah,

00:16:34.080 I was 15. She was 14. We met and, uh, she actually, uh, we met through her cousin. Her

00:16:40.220 cousin was homeschooled with my sister. Long story. We ended up, uh, we kind of started dating

00:16:44.720 that year in 2014. And, um, yeah, so then we, we were together all through high school, college,

00:16:53.120 and then got married right before I went to go play or right, I guess, after I went to go play

00:16:57.540 pro ball. What was her reaction when you, I guess, came back to the hotel room and she was with you,

00:17:03.720 right? And you were like, I just got released. Well, she was actually still at Cal Baptist

00:17:07.540 university. Oh, okay. She was finishing up her last year of school. Gotcha. So she was going to come

00:17:11.840 join me right when she finished up that, uh, spring semester. And so it was like kind of late March at

00:17:17.940 the time. So she had like one month left of school. Yeah. So she was about to come move across the

00:17:21.880 country with me. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, that was tough. I just, yeah. Called her on the phone. I was

00:17:27.340 like, Hey, I'm on my way back. So. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Moved back in with, uh, her parents initially

00:17:33.000 and then moved in with my parents and we were there, uh, to kind of till the end of the year

00:17:37.400 in 2022. It is such a blessing to have family that you can rely on. Yeah. Yeah. To be able to fall

00:17:42.720 back on. It was such a blessing, especially this day and age. It's not exactly easy to support

00:17:46.760 yourself, uh, right out of college. Every life is America's pro-life diaper company.

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00:19:24.020 Okay, so what did the next season of life look like?

00:19:31.980 For the next couple of months, I wanted to still play. And I had a couple opportunities

00:19:36.700 in different countries. And so we're like, hey, do I want to go play in Mexico? Because I had some

00:19:41.340 opportunities there. And basically every door that kept opening kept getting shut. And it was like six or

00:19:49.340 seven different opportunities in a row. And I was like, all right, I'll take the hint. And I did have

00:19:56.520 a desire to share some stuff on social media. And I guess something that's something that's worth

00:20:01.480 noting, I guess this is kind of a big detail. I kind of forgot. When when I got signed in 2021,

00:20:07.480 I didn't for the nationals with the nationals. Yes. I didn't expect to get signed. I was really hoping

00:20:12.800 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

00:20:17.280 was watching the draft tracker. I was watching the draft tracker too. And but when I got signed,

00:20:22.560 I was like, okay, I want to tell my dad in a special way. My dad worked at Firestone. And he

00:20:29.020 would always tell me batting practice after work. So he's an auto mechanic, did that his whole life.

00:20:33.240 And so I wanted to surprise him, tell him that I got signed. So I went to his work and told my mom,

00:20:38.920 hey, you should record this. I think this would be cool. Yeah. And so my mom, of course, this moment

00:20:42.940 with my dad. And at this point, I had no desire to be on social media at all. Yeah. My social

00:20:47.220 media was being used to for my photography page because I did wedding photography. Oh, you did.

00:20:51.920 And but my mom records this video of me telling my dad that I got signed and I posted it to TikTok

00:20:57.440 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

00:21:08.780 a couple hundred thousand followers on TikTok from this. And I had no idea what to do with it. I didn't

00:21:15.880 know how to make videos. I didn't have anything to make really. So so I'm just sitting on a couple

00:21:21.080 hundred thousand followers and didn't a bunch of people were keeping up with my career. And then

00:21:26.880 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,

00:21:40.280 living with my parents, not playing anymore. Yeah.

00:21:42.160 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.

00:22:27.080 I made two, two videos after, after that one, uh, just basic baseball coaching instruction stuff

00:22:34.480 on like the mental game. And it, those videos were received really well. And again, my wife and I are

00:22:40.460 living like at my parents' house at this point. And I'm like, OK, look, I told Gigi, I was like,

00:22:45.140 I really feel like I got something here. That's your wife. Yes. Yes. I was like, I feel like I

00:22:50.620 have something here. I feel like I really have a lot of things I want to share. And I feel like

00:22:54.480 there's not that much information online, um, about this. And so I was like, for the next three months,

00:23:00.120 I'm going to make a video every single day. I'm going to post it to TikTok and post it to Instagram.

00:23:04.480 Everything else. And we'll just see where it goes. If doesn't go anywhere, like I'll figure

00:23:11.000 something out, probably just book a bunch of weddings and go back to doing photography. 0.93

00:23:14.820 And, and so you're writing, filming and editing these all by yourself. Did you have anyone who's

00:23:20.020 helping you? No. And that takes some time. People don't realize it's not just like two minutes

00:23:24.880 setting up your camera. You're really having to like plan it out. Yeah. Yeah. Figuring out the

00:23:29.240 microphones. I already had the camera equipment, which was nice. Oh yeah. Um, but then yeah,

00:23:34.240 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.

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00:29:45.420 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.

00:38:00.440 We'll see you guys tonight.

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

00:41:09.080 their identity. Yeah.

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

00:47:18.880 appreciate it. Thank you.

00:47:20.080 Thank you.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - August 01, 2025

Ep 1225 ｜ The Savannah Bananas Player Bringing Jesus to Baseball ｜ RobertAnthony Cruz (Coach RAC)

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