Pitchers and catchers around baseball are beginning to report to their teams this weekend (assuming they haven’t already done so) and that includes CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees who showed up to spring training weighing over 300 pounds.
That will of course raise some eyebrows, but shockingly, Sabathia has played at over 300 pounds before and actually wanted to be at his current weight as he believes it gives him the best chance of success.
As you’ll likely recall, CC Sabathia made a lot of news last season when he showed up at camp noticeably slimmer and the weight loss made a significant amount of headlines. This year though it’s not about the weight loss but rather the extra tonnage.
The former AL Cy Young winner reported to Yankees camp tipping the scales at 305 pounds, admitting that his drastic weight loss in 2013 and ’14 might have affected him more than he knew.
“I lost a bunch of weight drastically, pretty quick, two years ago, and was kind of off-balance,” Sabathia, who was 275 at the start of camp last season, said Saturday. “I didn’t know really how my body was working.”
Sabathia says the added weight allows him to have more strength and push off from the mound with ease.
We’ll see if it works or if he’ll need to go back on a diet.
