FOR former New York Yankee CC Sabathia, bigger meant better on the mound.
The future Hall of Famer had a notoriously large build during his pitching days, a feature that he said made him pitch better.
Sabathia pitched at 6-foot-7 and weighed in at nearly 300 pounds. His size was certainly formidable on the mound, but unorthodox.
Pitchers are typically light and lanky, and Sabathia attempted to attain that figure, but a key roadblock kept him from doing so.
One year, he got his weight down closer to 250 pounds, but when he got to training camp his pitch velocity was way down.
“The one year, it was like 2013. I got down to like 265. I was feeling good. Like, came to spring training, I was throwing like 83. Damn, it was just like I got back to 290 before spring training,” Sabathia told Pat McAfee.
After the drop in weight coincided with his drop in performance, Sabathia returned to his old diet and returned to around 300 pounds in 2017.
That would be the best year he had since 2012 and it earned the 2007 Cy Young winner a contract extension.
The former New York Yankee retired soon after in 2019 after compiling one of the best pitching careers baseball has ever seen.
With over 3,000 career strikeouts, a career ERA of 3.74, a Cy Young award, and a World Series ring, he is a lock to enter the MLB Hall of Fame.
Sabathia has slimmed down since entering retirement to try and live a healthier lifestyle, but he maintained that being heavy was his recipe for success.
“Mass equals gas,” he said.