Arizona Diamondbacks Pitcher Ryan Thompson Keeps Career Centered on Christ

Published: November 1, 2023

Arizona Diamondbacks Pitcher Ryan Thompson Keeps Career Centered on Christ

By Movieguide® Contributor

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Ryan Thompson recently reflected on the impact his faith has had on his baseball career.

In 2016, Thompson dedicated his life to the Lord. However, in 2020, after his former team, Tampa Bay Rays, lost in the World Series, Thompson was overcome with emotion.

“I was in the middle of a flight, and I cannot explain it,” he told the Tampa Bay Times. “I just had a breakdown. Everything just hit me at once…I’ve never cried in public before, and it just hit me.”

“I had all these revelations,” he explained. “I had sacrificed this relationship that I knew was a gift from God. I sacrificed my relationship with God. I had basically given up everything I could give up for this baseball dream.”

Since then, he’s realized that losses are part of life. In a thread shared on his X page, Thompson wrote that we will face trials.

“You won’t be able to find someone in the Bible who didn’t suffer to some extent,” the thread began. “God cannot prevent suffering (for it would override fundamental free will) but he can and will deliver you from it, if you so desire him to.”

Thompson continued, “On the contrary to a popular thought, the existence of evil and suffering is in fact potentially the best evidence for God…not against. Suffering implies something isn’t right. Where does this standard of ‘rightness’ come? It’s the moral makeup of God.”

“God does not promise a comfy and cozy life on Earth. Actually, He guarantees that we will endure pain suffering and hardship. What He also guarantees however is an inheritance of eternal life free of suffering in Heaven for those who cry out to Him and believe,” he wrote.

You won’t be able to find someone in the Bible who didn’t suffer to some extent. God cannot prevent suffering (for it would override fundamental free will) but he can and will deliver you from it, if you so desire him to.

— Ryan Thompson (@R_Thompson15) May 2, 2023

Thompson told the Sports Spectrum Podcast in May that he’s had many more conversations about his faith since he became a Christian.

“At the end of the day, I started having a lot more conversations about the Lord I wasn’t expecting,” he told Sports Spectrum. “I don’t know if it was connected to the post or not, but in the past three days I’ve had four different deep, Biblical, theological Jesus conversations that I don’t know if I would’ve had otherwise. Maybe it’s just me being more intentional about it where that post kind of catapulted me to have these other conversations.”

Thompson didn’t begin this MLB season with the Diamondbacks. In fact, he “wasn’t even on the roster until the end of August. He was released by the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 17 after posting a 6.11 ERA over 18 appearances with the team. The Diamondbacks claimed him 10 days later and he retired the side in his first outing Aug. 27 to earn the save,” Sports Spectrum reported.

In an interview with MLB.com, Thompson discussed the start of the season. “This year, I think especially the first half of the year, there were a lot of times where I got punched in the face a little bit,” he said. “That helped me get better. Coming over here, something that I thought was really special about this team was how many different coaches that we have.”