Savannah Bananas star "Coach RAC" shares how his Christian faith is the sole source of his lasting peace and joy, inspiring his viral content and the team's immense popularity.



A Savannah Bananas player, best known for his high-energy personality and viral coaching videos, says he speaks openly about his faith because it is the only thing that has brought him lasting peace and joy.

Robert Anthony Cruz, better known as “Coach RAC,” is one of the Savannah Bananas’ most recognizable personalities, having built a following through his instructional videos but now entertaining fans with the team’s unique blend of baseball and showmanship.

The Bananas are perhaps the fastest-growing sports attraction in America, having drawn more than 100,000 fans twice in 2026 – first at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field and then at the University of Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium. Essentially, they are the baseball version of basketball’s Harlem Globetrotters.

Cruz has become one of the team's most recognizable faces and frequently speaks about his Christian faith. He has roughly 2 million total followers on Instagram and TikTok.

“It's the only thing that has satisfied my soul – sincerely,” he told Crosswalk Headlines, referencing his faith. Cruz made the comments prior to the 2026 K-LOVE Fan Awards, where he accepted the Sports Impact Award. “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.”

Cruz said he believes God orchestrated his life for a purpose far greater than baseball. He 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.

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 – playing traditional baseball – 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.”

Cruz isn't the only person of faith on the team. In fact, Christianity is so prevalent among the Bananas that players hold weekly Bible studies and have even organized worship nights in cities across the country.

“We meet intentionally every week,” he said of himself and fellow Christians on the team. “We have a Bible study. We've had that going now for almost three years. We get in the Word. We worked our way through Ephesians earlier this year. Now we're going through Hebrews. We're almost done with that. We intentionally meet every week, and we need that time together, because we're playing on the road. 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.

“But I think that so many of my teammates whose lives have been transformed, and wanting to share their testimonies at our worship nights – all of that has been, I think, an outgrowth of us intentionally meeting together.”

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