D-backs Closer Launches Paul Sewald's Strikeouts 4 Kids Charity Program

The D-backs' closer is donating money for every strikeout he gets to Child Crisis and the D-backs are matching every dollar.

Paul Sewald with two kids representing Child Crisis at Chase Field / Jack Sommers

The Arizona Diamondbacks and their closer, Paul Sewald, announced a new charity effort that is being headlined by Sewald. It's for a cause near and dear to his heart as kids mean the world to him thanks to his two young daughters. This charity cause dates back a couple of years to his time in Seattle and now he's doing it once again in Arizona.

His charity program is about giving local children a space free from abuse and neglect by creating strong and successful families. The program's name is "Sewald's Strikeouts 4 Kids." The charity that the program will benefit this year is Child Crisis.

Sewald began doing this after he and his wife, Molly, had their first daughter a few years ago and children became the focus of their world.

"Molly and I started Sewald strikeouts for kids 3 years ago when I was in Seattle, I'd reached a point in my career at the time and really started to give back and we loved everything that Seattle had given us...We wanted to give back and we started this thing where I give money for strikeouts...to an organization that helps the kids because kids have been the center of our lives the last 2 years."

Per the D-backs, "Child Crisis Arizona (childcrisisaz.org) provides emergency shelter, foster care, counseling and more to support our community’s most vulnerable children, youth, and families."

Sewald shared his own thoughts on Child Crisis and the work they do, including trying to build a new campus to help even more children and families.

"We thought it was just families that were very vulnerable due to abuse, and that's just the bare minimum of what they do. they give education to kids that really don't have that opportunity, Childcare is so expensive. Now, sometimes parents are more willing to just not have a job so they wouldn't have to pay for the childcare... It's a safety net for all these kids that just need a safe place."

"They can get food, water, and just basic needs that we all take for granted. They have a great fostering program... Our government does the very best they can but Child Crisis is going to do everything and more and go above and beyond to make sure that these kids are going to proper families."

Paul Sewald is excited to help the new campus be built and he is going to have a garden in the center of the campus named after him and Molly, "The Sewald Family Garden."

"That is just going to be something that when I come back to Phoenix or if we stay here or if I come back to Phoenix in 20 years and I can show my girls... I think that's going to be a really special moment."

So far, Sewald has struck out six batters in six innings and has raised $6,000 to donate. "I can't wait to strike out more people. I'm disappointed my season started out a little slow... We're hoping that we're going to rack some up through the year."

"I try to strike everybody out. That's kind of that's what I try to do every single time so. There's a part of me with 2 strikes that gets a little disappointed when I don't get a strikeout, especially when I know it's going for kids, but we'd like to think of it as a win-win-win...there's nothing exciting about donating for every ground ball you get so it's more fun to donate for strikeouts I think."

When Sewald reached out to the D-backs charity office, he requested three charities that would fit what he's looking for. They gave him five charities and had all the information for him within 24 hours. They have helped every step of the way and have been there to support Sewald and his family.

"I'm not savvy at anything else in life so just very thankful for for everybody on their part and D-backs Give Back to make sure that we could get this off the ground running and we could get as many strikeouts as possible and as many dollars as possible."

Plus, the Arizona Diamondbacks will match every dollar Sewald raises at the end of the season and make another donation to the charity. "It's the credit to Ken and Derrick and just the people that we have here. That wasn't even an ask of mine that was just simply part of the conversation and I'm forever grateful that they'll do that."

"Unfortunately, we can't help everybody, but kids are the center focus of our lives...It just kills me to see that some of these families don't have all the resources that they possibly have so if I can do anything to help them then I feel like that's necessary."

Be sure to root on the D-backs' closer as Sewald chases for more strikeouts and hopefully more saves as he locks down the end of games. The closer is a critical piece of the team and bullpen. Now, there's just one more factor to root for when the Iceman is on the mound.