MLB player shares the Gospel, favorite Bible verse with fans: 'I'm not actually a pitcher'

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, August 19, 2025

Cleveland Guardians closer Cade Smith, who has emerged as one of the team's most reliable arms out of the bullpen in the last two years, shared one of his favorite Bible verses with fans last weekend as he signed autographs for them on the field.

Video footage of Smith interacting with fans before a game was shared on Instagram over the weekend by Darby Nobles, the team chaplain for the Cleveland Browns and the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Metro Cleveland director for the Cleveland Fellowship of Christian Athletes. 

As the 26-year-old spoke, he had a glove in his hands with the words "1 Cor 6:11" written on it, referring to 1 Corinthians 6:11. 

Smith asked the fans if any of them knew the verse "off the top of their head" as he showed them the glove. He described the verse as one of his favorites, noting that 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 is "a statement of universal condemnation." The Bible verses that precede 1 Corinthians 6:11 state that "Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

The athlete summarized 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 as stating that everyone is a sinner, "no one's good enough, you're not getting to Heaven on your own." Smith contrasted the message of 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 with that of the subsequent verse written on his glove. He paraphrased the scripture passage as an acknowledgment that while people are born sinners, they are "washed, justified, [and] sanctified by the name of [the] Lord Jesus Christ [and] by the Spirit of Our God." 

Smith said that 1 Corinthians 6:11 guides his approach to life.

"Regardless of how any outing goes up or down, if I succeed or I struggle or I do really bad, I know that I'm not actually a pitcher," he said. "I'm washed, I'm justified and I'm sanctified, and those are things that no one can take from me." 

Smith previously touted his faith in a pre-game interview with the Guardians' broadcast team in May.

"My identity is not based in baseball," he stressed. "My identity is based in my faith. ... That's something that can't be taken from me and it can't be shaped by the highs and lows of this game." 

Smith was born in Canada and attended the Mennonite Educational Institute. The 2025 MLB season marks his second year playing for the Guardians. In 2024, he finished fifth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. 

He spent the 2022 and 2023 MLB seasons playing for minor league baseball teams affiliated with the Guardians. He was initially drafted in the 16th round by the Minnesota Twins in 2017 but chose to play college baseball. Before he was signed by Cleveland in 2020 as an undrafted free agent, Smith spent three years playing for the University of Hawaii.

After a solid season of relief pitching in 2024, in which he posted a sub-2 earned run average, Smith assumed the Guardians' closer role this summer after the team's all-star closer Emmanuel Clase was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave in late July through Aug. 31 amid a gambling investigation.