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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants will play one final game Wednesday to determine this year’s World Series champions, and a former BYU pitcher will be the starting pitcher for the Royals.
Jeremy Guthrie, 35, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and former BYU pitcher, will be called upon Wednesday night to be the Royals’ starting pitcher as the team hopes to win its first World Series since 1985.
Guthrie hasn’t had the easiest road in professional baseball, but he said what he learned as a missionary for the LDS Church is the foundation to how he approaches the game of baseball and life in general.
“Everybody has a story, I’m no different. But what I learned as a missionary in those two years away, are the foundation to everything that happens to me in my life. Sometimes I choose for positive,” Guthrie told reporters in a press conference during the World Series. “Results don’t drive what I do. And I don’t think they should drive anybody. But it’s the effort that you put in and the experience that helps you become who you are.”
Guthrie said prior to his mission he was frustrated with baseball and his performance on the field, so he left his fate in God’s hands while he served as a missionary.
“When I left, baseball was not something I foresaw in my future, at least long term,” he said. “I loved the game and I enjoyed playing it, but I was burned out and I pitched poorly as a freshman. And quite frankly, it was not fun. So when I took my call to be a missionary for two years, I left my glove behind and I left the ball behind.
“And when I came back I had no expectations,” he added. “It wasn’t one of those things where I prayed one night and said, ‘Lord, if I do this you promise me to do this.’ It was not that way; it was a: ‘I’m going to give this up and I know whatever happens will be the best for me and it will be thy will.’ ”
Guthrie returned from his mission and transferred to Stanford before being selected 22nd overall in the 2002 Major League Baseball draft to the Cleveland Indians.
“The more I tried to answer questions as to how my baseball life or career had turned around, the less I had answers for. And I began to think that this was a tremendous blessing,” Guthrie said. “That blessing carried me through three very difficult seasons as a Cleveland Indian, my first three years in professional baseball.
“Aside from the first two months, I was the greatest thing that had ever happened to Cleveland minor league baseball, according to them,” Guthrie added. “From there it was downhill for a long period of time.”
Guthrie struggled to find a place in baseball for several years, moving around to the Baltimore Orioles and the Colorado Rockies before landing with the Royals in July 2012.
“I didn’t have anything going for me as a professional pitcher. But that understanding that everything had happened to me was happening for a reason helped me continue to grind through it, helped me to push,” Guthrie said.
The 2014 season is the first time Guthrie has made an appearance in postseason baseball. He’s posted a 4.13 ERA over 202.2 innings and finished the season with a record of 13-11.
