The Savanah Bananas baseball team is packing stadiums across the nation, including Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City recently. They already have drawn more than 100,000 fans twice in 2026 as the baseball version of the Harlem Globetrotters and are spurring new teams.
Robert Anthony Cruz, better known as “Coach RAC,” is one of the team’s most recognizable personalities, having built a following through his instructional videos but now entertaining fans with the team’s blend of baseball and showmanship. He also openly shares his Christian faith.
“It’s the only thing that has satisfied my soul – sincerely,” he told writer Michael Foust, with Crosswalk. “I have experienced hitting a home run in front of a ton of people, I’ve experienced a bunch of people wanting my autograph and all that — and the more that the spotlight is put on me, the more I realize it’s not meant to be on me.
“And so myself and so many of my teammates have experienced the joys of doing life with Jesus, and nothing else compares to it. And so for me, I can’t help but be outspoken about it, because I love people and I want them to experience that same peace and joy.”
Life before the Savanah Bananas
Cruz played college baseball at Biola University and then signed with the Washington Nationals in 2021, believing his lifetime dream of playing in Major League Baseball was within reach. “I thought I was one step closer to achieving my childhood dream of playing pro ball, and wound up getting released in 2022,” he said.
In a 2025 profile by Biola Magazine, Cruz said his faith helped shape how he handled both success and disappointment in baseball. “Faith is a part of everything I do on the field,” he said. “That means I don’t have to get my affirmation from performing well. I don’t have to be a star to feel content inside, because my value comes from the one who created me.”
He then turned to posting coaching videos as a way to make money and continue pursuing his passion for the game, eventually leading to an opportunity with the Bananas. The Bananas began as a college summer team before moving to full-time exhibition barnstorming games in 2023.
“It’s just been on a meteoric rise since I joined,” he said. “I never could have envisioned being where I’m at.
Christianity is so prevalent that players hold weekly Bible studies and even have organized worship nights in cities across the country.
“We intentionally meet every week, and we need that time together, because we’re playing on the road,” Cruz said. “We don’t have a local church community that we’re rooted in, because we’re always gone playing on the road, so having that time with each other is huge.
The faith movement has spread through the clubhouse.”
Cruz has said his goal with the Savanah Bananas is “to be a good ambassador for Christ in everything I do, with the Bananas and beyond.”
–Lee Hartman
