AMAZING STORY
Slugger Chris Davis Reveals True Power Source
By Tom Buehring
The 700 Club
CBN.com -The Baltimore Orioles’ Chris Davis has surged to baseball’s forefront. The slugger’s stroke has become a record-setting swing. His combined count of home runs and doubles mid-way through this season is the highest in major league history. “I really haven’t sat down to think about it too much. I try to not to get caught up in the numbers.”
Big swings often come with strikeouts. Chris made adjustments this season, significantly raising his batting average and run production. “I’ve always had power. I think it was more about consistently putting the ball in play and having a better approach. I just simplified things a lot. Keeping my head still and try to swing at strikes as elementary as it sounds.”
The results are turning heads. His power potential was recognized during his first four years with the Texas Rangers. He was traded to Baltimore in 2011, bringing along his nickname that’s fitting for the Orioles Orange. “They call me Crush! I like it! It fits. It’s grown on me.”
Tom Buehring, 700 Club Reporter: “Away from the game how does a player nicknamed Crush, take charge of his life? Surprisingly, through surrender! Chris Davis has turned his own personal crushing into freedom, learning to ease the grip on the things he can't control.”
“That was my mentality a lot of years of my life was there’s nothing I can’t overpower, overcome with my own strength. God wants you to try hard. He wants you to give every effort you have. But at the same time, He also wants you to let go. And that was something I really had to learn to do, and I still have to learn on a daily basis, surrendering, letting go, letting Him control the results.”
Chris grew up going to church. When the Rangers drafted him baseball became his priority. He was sent down to the minor leagues six times over parts of four seasons. His on-field failures consumed him. He was devastated after being left off the Rangers 2010 World Series Roster. “It’s tough. (It was something) that meant a lot to me to be a part of the group that brought a winning team back to Arlington especially being from the state of Texas.”
The disappointment exposed his emptiness. It pushed him to search past the game he strived to control. It awakened his childhood faith. “I was praying and just really crying out to the Lord and felt this overwhelming love and really I think it was a feeling of grace. (It) Kind of overwhelmed me. He lit me on fire and have just continued to let go more and more and as I have the Lord’s really taken me to places that I’ve only dreamed about being. I think there’s a certain feeling you want of security. And I try to strip myself of that. I’d rather be thrust into a wild sea and trust the Lord then sitting on the shore. I think that’s something you learn as you walk in your faith.”
The 27 year-old first baseman is on pace to take on the single-season home run record. He inherits growing skepticism from fans, suspicious of performance enhancing drugs. “I figured there would be some point in time when people would start questioning because it is a drastic change. I was so unsuccessful for so long, and now that I’ve had success people want to know what the secret is. We’re drug tested just like everyone else. We have the strictest drug testing policy in all of major league sports. I’ve been drug tested several times, never failed. I think fans want someone to look at and say, ‘This guy’s doing it the right way.’ They’re not able to see the hard work all the extra work you put in. They just see the result on the field.”
Chris Davis, baseball’s emerging slugger has become stronger after no longer trying to overpower everything else in his life. “It’s not about how hard you’re working to go against the grain. It’s just about surrendering every day. Give God the glory no matter what happens. After every at bat after every play, it just keeps me grounded and keeps my faith strong and keeps my head and heart in the right place.”
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