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As he watched Josh Hamilton hit a record 28 homers in the first round of baseball’s Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium, with the crowd of 55,000 chanting the Texas Ranger’s name, Jimmy Carroll thought back to a Sunday morning in early 2006 and the chilly waters of the local dive club.

That’s where he baptized Hamilton, in swim shorts and a white T-shirt, after one of the most tumultuous years in the young man’s life.

It was Hamilton’s public proclamation of his Christian faith — a faith the All-Star hasn’t stopped talking about. Not as the zeros increase on those Major League Baseball paychecks. Not as he commands the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Or, as happened on Monday, when he stands before the microphone, the crowd and an ESPN audience and again thanks God.

“A lot of people who thank God haven’t been where Josh has been,” said Carroll, the pastor of Journey Church (www.takeajourney.org) in north Raleigh, where Hamilton and his wife, Katie, were founding members.

“I can be thankful for freedom, but I’ve never been in jail,” Carroll said. “Talk to someone who has been in jail, and they understand freedom the way I don’t.”

That’s the same about grace and mercy, Carroll said.

“The word grace is a really beautiful word and it means you get something you deserve,” he said. “Mercy is when you don’t get what you deserve. Josh knows a lot about grace and mercy.

So when he says, 'I want to thank God’ or 'I want to thank my Lord and savior Jesus Christ,’ that comes from a place most people have never been.”

Hamilton’s Athens Drive High School team, from Raleigh, lost to Northwest Guilford for the Class 4-A state championship in 1998. He was the top pick in baseball’s draft after graduating in 1999, securing a $3.96 million signing bonus .

But by 2001, he was on the disabled list and had picked up a cocaine habit. Swinging turned to swigging — bottles of Crown Royal, they say — and sports observers began to write him off.

“We did a lot of fasting and praying for Josh,” Carroll recalled. “But one of the best things God did for Josh was give him Katie. She has prayed for him and walked with him through some difficult times.”

In time, Hamilton found the strength to overcome his addictions.

“Josh didn’t find Jesus when he was in the valley, Josh turned to Jesus when he was in the valley,” Carroll said. “He already knew who God was. He wasn’t a stranger at all to God or the Bible or faith, but it was during that time that he turned to Him.”

These days, Josh and Katie live in Texas, but Katie listens to the church’s podcast. Carroll talked to Hamilton just a couple of weeks ago. Sometimes they communicate through texting.

“Every time I talk to him I ask him if he’s 'In the Word’ and he says, 'Every day,’” Carroll said, “If I speak with him, I’ll always ask, 'Are you praying?’ He understands how important it is to maintain that walk with Jesus.”

So when ESPN analyst Rick Reilly, during the Home Run Derby, uttered “It’s a lousy night to be an atheist,” Carroll could only smile.

“I thought God is getting glory right now and that’s pretty awesome,” Carroll said. “I know a lot of people are celebrating Josh and his talent, even his story. But when I look at Josh … what it does for me personally is just make me give God even more glory. He’s a God of restoration. He’s a God of forgiveness and grace and mercy, and he has redeemed what the enemy tried to steal.”

Contact Nancy H. McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com