Flame on the Hot Seat: Christian Wylder
Photo courtesy of Lee Athletic Communications.
This week’s Flame on the Hot Seat is sophomore baseball pitcher Christian Wylder. Coming from College Park, Georgia, he joined the Flames in the Fall of 2019. Christian is a pastoral ministry major. When he is not on the pitcher’s mound, he is playing ping-pong with his friends or working hard on his major.
What brought you to Lee?
“My call to ministry is what brought me to Lee,” Wylder said. “Coming to campus and meeting the professors, especially Dr. [Mark] Walker. Hearing the purpose of Lee and how I’d grow here in my future ministry is really why, and once I got a baseball offer, I committed and came.”
How did you get into playing baseball?
“My dad because he was a baseball player. I was five when I started. He got me into it, and I kept on playing.”
What’s your favorite thing about playing baseball?
“The competition that we have. Going out and competing everyday and striving to get better and winning is probably my favorite thing. We’re trying to get that goal-oriented mindset to win a championship.”
How do you stay calm and collected when the game is not going your way?
“We have something called a red light routine. So, when something’s going bad on the mound, you’re supposed to take a second and keep breathing. I have two things I do during my red light routine. I write two sayings on the top of my hat. The first one is ‘Jesus Juve’ and the next one is ‘Soli Deo gloria,’ which means ‘Jesus help me’ and ‘to God be the glory.’ When something’s going bad, I pray ‘Jesus help me through this,’ and whether good things happen, or even bad things, to God be the glory for whatever I do.”
What does your pregame routine look like? Is there anything you or your team does before a game that’s interesting or unique?
“Pre-COVID all the pitchers would play a game called Hacky Sack, which is just a squishy sand ball, and you kick it up with your feet. We would usually play that before the game just to get loose, but with COVID we’re not allowed to do it.”
What has been your favorite memory at Lee so far?
“When I went to the Dominican Republic last year. We went as a baseball team and that was really, really fun. It was a great team bonding experience being able to serve the community there and play baseball and just being with the guys over there.”
What do you look forward to most about your time here at Lee and with this team?
“Growing in my relationship with the Lord through other people, and the same goes for baseball. I want to grow closer with the guys on the team, and hopefully we’ll be successful.”
What is your go-to song to get into the zone before a game?
“It always varies for me. Right now [it] would be a song called ‘No More Night.’ It’s a worship song by David Phelps. No one probably listens to it before a game, but I do.”
What are your hobbies outside of baseball?
“I love playing ping-pong and games like that. Once a week, a guy on the baseball team would come over and wash his clothes, and we would play ping-pong for hours. I love card games, especially Spades. Also, over the summer, I worked on a farm. I guess you could call that a hobby of some sorts.”
Fun fact about yourself?
“This isn’t a pleasant fact, but when I was a senior in high school, I had a triple hernia. It was rough, but I got surgery, and now I’m all good.”
What’s your favorite movie of all-time?
“‘Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith’ because it is a cinematic masterpiece, and Ewan McGregor perfectly plays the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
