The Resurrection of Gavin Stone: Dodgers Rookie Shares Name with Movie Flop

Wednesday afternoon, promising Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Gavin Stone will make his Major League debut, as he takes the mound for his club in their series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies. But did you know that the 24-year-old shares the same name as the titular character of a 2017 box office flop, directed by Dallas Jenkins, the creator of 'The Chosen'?
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone: Dodgers Rookie Shares Name with Movie Flop
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone: Dodgers Rookie Shares Name with Movie Flop /
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Wednesday afternoon, promising Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Gavin Stone will make his Major League debut, as he takes the mound for his club in their series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Stone is the no. 48 prospect in all of baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. MLB Pipeline also has Stone ranked as the fourth-best prospect in a loaded Dodgers farm system, and the organization's second-best pitching prospect. But did you know that the 24-year-old shares the same name as the titular character of a 2017 box office flop?

In January 2017, Walden Media, Vertical Church Films and Power in Faith released a fictional movie titled 'The Resurrection of Gavin Stone'. The film was a light-hearted comedy targeted towards families, that severely underperformed at the box office.

In the film, the fictional Gavin Stone (played by Brett Dalton) is a washed-up former child actor that is forced to perform 200 hours of community service. Stone finds a role at a church where he plays the lead role of Jesus Christ in a play, and finds himself pretending to be a person of faith, which he is not.

The film received mostly negative reviews, including a 54% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 36 out of 100 on Metacritic. The film only received 13 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and five reviews on Metacritic.

Director Dallas Jenkins had high hopes and was very disappointed after he says it tested well. The film produced only $2.3 million at the box office, barely exceeding its $2 million budget. Jenkins had ideas and plans for other films, but was unable to create them after his first feature film bombed.

Luckily for Jenkins, he landed on his feet and has found remarkable success creating the popular series, The Chosen.

It appears Dodgers rookie Gavin Stone has not been asked if he is aware of the 2017 film, or if he has seen it.

Stone excelled in 2022, seeing time in High-A, Double-A and Triple-A, logging a 1.48 ERA and 9-6 record over 25 starts across all three levels. Needless to say, the Dodgers' rookie's career already appears to be far more promising than the 2017 film that features his name.

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Jack Vita
JACK VITA

Jack Vita is a national baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation.