Pablo Sandoval is typically in the headlines for being a large man, and that’s once again in the case after he reported for spring training.
According to John Tomase of WEEI, the Boston Red Sox third baseman said he dropped six percent body fat during the offseason and is proud of the hard work he put in to get there.
Pablo Sandoval just said his body fat percentage was 23% last year and is down to 17% now. "I'm proud of that," he said. "I worked hard."
— John Tomase (@jtomase) February 24, 2016
Many people will immediately laugh at Sandoval because he’s still a particularly large person. One unflattering picture of Sandoval’s gut has started to make the rounds on social media.
Red Sox owner John Henry said the team is more focused on Sandoval’s ability to field the ball than his weight. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski added “you could tell” Sandoval was in better shape this year, according to USA Today.
You know what, though? This wouldn’t even be a story if Sandoval had played better last season.
Here’s a bit of breaking news: Sandoval has always been overweight, even when he was a two-time All-Star on the San Francisco Giants. Instead of laughing at someone for carrying some extra pounds, we could commend Sandoval for working hard to drop body fat.
WEEI notes Rafael Alvarez, Sandoval’s trainer, said “He’€™s better than he was last year. More muscle. His speed and range is good. There’s no problems. He’s quicker than he was last year.”
Keep laughing if you’d like. We won’t be.
Good work, Sandoval.