Given a Chance at Hope, Now Pitching for the Stars

For most of the country, springtime signals a thaw. In Los Angeles there is no shortage of sunshine, and UCLA’s baseball diamond is already heating up. Meet Bruins pitcher Chris Grothues. Born in an abusive home, Chris experienced anything but warmth.

“I had abusive parents. My birth mother lost custody of me and had to give me up for adoption,” says Chris. “I don't remember much, but it’s like, ‘Wow! God saved me,’ and I don't know where I'd be if I was still in that family. I wouldn’t be here for sure.”

Chris was adopted into a Christian home, and in high school, he excelled at baseball. His sophomore year, he accepted a scholarship to play at UCLA after graduation.

“I was like, ‘I'm committing on the spot. Why wait for any other colleges when I got my dream school waiting for me to commit?

He considered himself a Christian but wasn’t living like it.

“I was in the world for sure, not going out partying, all that, just living for the world and not for Christ.”

During his junior high school season, a knee injury suddenly put his scholarship to UCLA in jeopardy. Chris cried out to God.

“I tore my ACL, and I remember just going on my knees, crying like, ‘Lord, what are you what are you trying to do with me right now? I've performed well, I thought, I give glory to you, which I really wasn't,’” said Chris. “And it was kind of like a reset, like, ‘Lord, you can take baseball away from me whenever you want, and if you don't want me to play anymore, you don't have to let me play anymore,’ and just praying about it and got through it. And it really, that first injury, was like a wakeup call to have my foundation in Christ and just live by his word daily.”

UCLA’s Coach Savage reaffirmed his commitment to Chris.

“Right before my parents actually told me to call, and I was scared, and they're like, ‘Well just pray about it before you call him.’ And I prayed, I was like, ‘Lord just give me the words to say and whatever happens I know it's for you it's for your glory and if that's not playing baseball anymore it's not playing baseball, just give me the strength and courage just to talk to Coach Savage and not be scared and just tell him up front what happened.’ And I called him, and he was calm. He was like, ‘Hey, you're going to get through this.’”

In the summer between his freshman and sophomore seasons at UCLA, Chris tore a ligament in his pitching arm, requiring surgery. Later in his sophomore season he tore his meniscus.

I'm thinking I'm just going to hang up the cleats. I'm injury guy. Back-to-back years where I'm getting injured, I just want to stop at this point. And then from a couple of guys from my team, they told me, ‘Hey, you'll be all right. Pray about it.’ They gave me Proverbs 3:5-6: ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he'll make straight your path.’ And it's like, ‘Lord, like, I trust you. Whatever's going on, I trust you. I'm giving everything to you. Just help me get through this injury.’”

Chris had his meniscus removed and was back in action in just three weeks, surprising his doctors.

“They didn’t think I was going to come back, and actually training hard in the physical therapy room, whether that was three hours a day or six hours a day, I was in there trying to get better and trying to prove everyone else wrong, and the Lord helped me do that.”

Just two months later, Chris helped pitch UCLA to the 2025 College World Series.

“I took a second, like, just to look around. I was like, ‘Wow, this is unreal. Like, I cannot write this up myself if I wanted to.’ And pitching in front of LSU and then striking out the side against LSU, I was like, ‘Wow, this is just unbelievable.’”

After the season, Chris was named FCA baseball athlete of the year. He knows even through adversity, God shows us his love.

“He's really faithful. I mean, I remember reading the Book of Job not too long ago and just reading how, you know, Job had everything. And then, God allowed Satan just to take everything away. I mean, baseball was taken away from me, and then God restored it twentyfold. And I feel like he's blessed me in that same way where, yeah, he took everything away from me for a year and a half, two years of my life, but then he had the bigger plan for me. And not just pitching here, but pitching in a College World Series and sharing my testimony in front of thousands of viewers that were watching on social media.

“So, kind of just looking through that and really applying that to my life, where if something's not really going my way, I just look to that, and you're like, you know, your plans are better than mine. I'm just going to trust you through the process.”