Typically, when I do a blog post with “torso” in the headlines, it’s to speculate whether a local player is heftier in the mid-section than the braying mob of internet commenters might prefer.
Here, though, is a twist on that tired refrain. Drew Storen showed up at spring training with a new, heftier torso, and he did so by design. This is the top of Kilgore’s fascinating Sunday read on the weight preferences of various Nats:
Drew Storen reported last year to Washington Nationals spring training slimmed down, toned and in better shape than he could remember. He spent this winter making sure he wouldn’t make the same mistake.In baseball, Storen discovered, superlative physical condition can be a miscalculation. He withered to as low as 175 pounds during the summer. His energy waned and he struggled to recover between games. Before this winter, Storen had never weighed more than 185 pounds. He weighs 200 pounds now, thick through the neck and chest, and he thinks he will be better because of it.“You kind of need to have a little meat to get through the rigors of the season,” Storen said. “I kind of like it. I feel way better.”
Of course, upon reading that, what I wanted next was a whole mess of Storen photos, to see what it looks like for a reliever to gain 15 pounds and become “thick through the neck and chest.” Here are six. I’m not positive I would have noticed the difference.