While the Savannah Bananas entertain millions of fans each game, one player is using his platform to share his Christian faith. RobertAnthony Cruz, also known in Bananaland as RAC, always wanted to be a professional baseball player. "I had a chance to do that briefly in the Washington Nationals organization. I was signed in 2021 for a year before getting released." After being released, he started posting baseball videos online and then heard about the Savannah Bananas. "I started making videos on social media full-time. And it wasn't until a couple of years later that I would hear about the Savannah Bananas going on their tour across the United States. I wound up joining the team in December 2023 and now I'm most of the way through my second tour on the Bananas." At Banana Ball's core, RAC says it's baseball, but there are a few added rules. "The owner, Jesse Cole, had this vision to make baseball even more fun than it already is. Instead of cheerleaders like football, they had the Banana Nanas which is a senior citizen dance team and the dad-bod cheer squad. They started doing some really fun things from the entertainment side of things, and they would sell out every game. "It's very different from a normal baseball game. Music is always playing. There's a lot more entertainment going on. 'Fans First' is the motto of the organization. So it's basically baseball, but with a lot more bells and whistles." .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } The Bananas have gained attention worldwide, amassing millions of followers across social platforms. RAC has over a million TikTok followers and over 800,000 on Instagram, and is not shy about posting about his Christian faith, which he grew up with. While his parents weren't Christians when they got married, they gave their lives to Jesus a few months before RAC's older sister was born. "My sister and I were raised in a new Christian home. And so I don't think there was ever a time when I didn't believe. My first memory is sitting on my sister's bed, praying and going through Scripture with my parents." While he is thankful to have grown up knowing Jesus, he said it wasn't until he was older that he realized how fulfilling a relationship with God is. "It wasn't until college that I started realizing how fulfilling it is to live a life and relationship with God. That experience that I had with God led me to want to share that with other people." During his time at Biola University in California, RAC would really take his relationship with God to the next level. "I had to start up an FCA huddle and we would meet every week and get into Scripture and when I joined the Nationals, I got very involved in the local church." Now being on the Bananas, RAC, along with several other teammates, have committed to a consistent Bible study. "We committed to meeting every week, me and a couple of other believers on the team, so that we could have a Bible study and make that a regular part of our routine. Especially given how much we travel, we're not able to be rooted in a local church. That's continued to grow and really be a blessing to everyone who's a part of it." Being rooted in community with teammates is something RAC doesn't take for granted. "The church is referenced as a body in Scripture and I think it's for a reason. We definitely rely on each other, whether that's confessing our struggles, encouraging each other with truths about who we really are in God's eyes, that we are absolutely stronger together. We experienced that this season, having something consistent every week to look forward to. It holds us accountable and has been a tremendous encouragement. God has blessed our little group nonetheless." While spending time with God is a choice RAC ultimately chooses, he knows it is worth it. "When I first wake up in the morning, I have a choice. I can either go into autopilot and scroll my phone a little bit or I can intentionally spend time with God. I don't do so because I have to or God will judge me. It's more like I've realized just how much more at peace I am with whatever circumstances come my way in the day. If I devote that initial time to God, like taking a Sabbath and rest days have been so important. Spending time in intentional prayer has also been huge." This season, several players from the organization came together and invited the public to worship nights. "We prayed about it and believe that God could use it. And so we decided to plan a public worship night a couple of months ago and it was amazing. Players were able to share their testimonies. We had several hundred people come out. They were very much a blessing to us to be able to share our testimonies publicly, but I think also for all of us to come together and worship. There's something very powerful about worshiping in community together." On and off the field, RAC shares his love for God and has posted several videos praying over the stadiums before a Bananas game. "Initially, I didn't want to. For the first couple of years making content, I didn't want to make videos like that because I didn't want them to come across as performative or insincere and I think that's still a risk that I run, nonetheless today." Playing in front of huge crowds, upwards of 80,000 people, he saw the unique opportunity. "When we played at Clemson, it was 80,000 people. I saw a unique opportunity to share with people this truth that the only thing that is fulfilling in this life is a relationship with your Creator. "That's something that I've learned, especially this year and last year, is I'm getting to do so many cool things that I've always wanted to do. And I am realizing that apart from Jesus, there is no real fulfillment in any of those things." View this post on Instagram A post shared by RobertAnthony Cruz (@coach.rac) During his time with the Bananas, RAC has seen how God is at work. "As we meet every week for our Bible study, we've seen so many of our teammates' hearts changed and our own hearts changed through specific prayer." Through the ups and downs of the season, he is happy to have his faith to fall back on when unforeseen circumstances happen. "I had a moment on national television that went crazy viral, where I fell on my face, and at that point, I was struggling on the field. I was really tired. I had just run several baseball camps with 1,000 kids and just very tired and depleted. "After falling on my face, the next couple of days, I found a lot of rest. I got a couple days off and that was in a weird way an answer to prayer. And then the following week I hit a walk-off home run in a Major League stadium, which is something I've always wanted to do." While he admits he won't always hit walk-off homeruns, he sees how God was working and answering his prayers, along with his teammates. "When my teammates and I have prayed specific prayers that God would use us to reach teammates. He is very quick to answer that prayer and give us an opportunity for conversation where we might not even be bringing it up to this person, but they would bring it up to us. "We've seen that happen time and time again, not just myself, but my other teammates, DR, Bill Leroy and Andy Archer. We've seen this over and over again as we pray those kinds of prayers. So we've found that we can rely on God in everything and all of our requests. No request is too small or too big, but we should just rely on Him daily. Give us this day our daily bread that He might sustain us for whatever that day has." RAC said a specific Bible passage was a big encouragement after being released by the Nationals and throughout his life. "James 1:2-4. 'Consider it pure joy when you meet trials of various kinds, because it's those trials that produce steadfastness and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.' "This life will have hardships and difficulties. But it doesn't have to be something that beats us down or makes us bitter. It can refine and transform us into a more steadfast, humble, patient person who relies on the Lord for everything." He said that the passage is encouraging despite what is happening in life. "If things are going well, awesome, give thanks to the Lord and praise Him for He is good and for all good things flow from Him. If you are going through a difficult thing and you are struggling, then take refuge in the Lord and trust that through those trials you are actually able to rejoice, one looking forward to the hope that you have an eternity. And then two, in the meantime, those trials are producing a steadfastness that actually leads to a greater form of contentment and makes you more well-rounded, perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." The Savannah Bananas continue their 2025 World Tour in Seattle, WA, on September 19 and 20, although RAC will not be playing after fracturing his wrist.