Faith on the field: Biblical name helps Webb City player evolve into team leader

May 24—In the book of Daniel, three men — Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego — are commanded to join in the worship of a golden statue created by King Nebuchadnezzar.

"Whoever does not fall down and worship shall be instantly cast into a white-hot furnace," a herald of the Babylonian king proclaims.

The three men — Jewish administrators in Babylon — refuse to worship the idol, telling the king: "If our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us!"

They are then bound and cast into the furnace, where they were joined by a fourth figure, seen walking in the flames.

After recognizing they are unbound and unharmed, Nebuchadnezzar called the three men out of the furnace.

"Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel to deliver the servants that trusted in him," the king then proclaims. "They disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I decree for nations and peoples of every language that whoever blasphemes the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut to pieces and his house made into a refuse heap. For there is no other God who can rescue like this."

More than 2,000 years later and thousands of miles from ancient Babylon, the story resonates with one member of the Webb City Cardinals' baseball team, which is in the playoffs again this spring.

Shadrach Salazar said he finds importance in the name he was given by parents Mark and Kristi Salazar.

"I love it. It's different. I stand out. And I think God uses that," Salazar said.

"The reason we named him that is we wanted him to have the character of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego," Kristi Salazar said. "We want Shad to stand up for what he believes in. We want him to be an influencer to share the gospel."

"Yeah, man, yeah. All glory to God. I'm a believer myself. I've got a biblical name. My family is a believing family. They raised me up right," Shadrach Salazar said. "No. 1 thing. First thing I do every day when I wake up is read the Bible and pray."

He says faith is important in his everyday life, and, like more prominent professional athletes, such as Tim Tebow, his faith intersects with his role on the field.

Salazar and the rest of the Cardinals' baseball team play in the Class 5 state tournament on Saturday. Webb City is facing Kearney High School in the state quarterfinal game, just like last year. This time, the Cardinals have to travel north of Kansas City for the 2 p.m. game. Last year, the Cardinals hosted the Bulldogs.

Salazar batted at an average of .348 through the regular season and totaled 31 hits, seven doubles and drove in 21 runs. He added a home run late in the regular season in a win over Willard.

According to head coach Andrew Doennig, Salazar's faith has helped make him into one of the leaders on the field.

"He's definitely a kid that shows his faith, and he's very proud of it," Doennig said. "He leads our team prayer every day and then the Wednesday team dinner, he does the prayer before that."

The stats and accomplishments are good. But one thing that his father always reminds his son is that he's playing for more than the individual recognition.

"It's hard, too. I have a baseball background and I didn't get saved until my sophomore year of college. And to play for Christ is easier said than done," Mark Salazar said. "Especially with guys in the competition. It's easy to get caught up in the pride."

Shadrach Salazar can be seen pointing toward the heavens after a hit and was seen doing so after his home run at the beginning of May against Willard.

"Make sure to give all glory to God. Not here without him," he said.

The Salazars moved to Webb City in August 2023. They had previously lived in Joplin but moved out to California before coming back to this area within the last year.

Mark Salazar says he's thankful for his son to be able to play "actual high school baseball" since moving to Webb City. Shadrach Salazar has been homeschooled previously and is taking the two necessary classes at the school to be able to play sports. That wasn't an option in California for homeschooled students.

But this has also been an opportunity to use his platform on a public sports team to shine his light.

"He's a kid that's a great example for everybody. Every kid in our program could look up to him. ... He's a phenomenal kid to have in our program," Doennig said.