St. Louis Cardinals: Matt Adams Slims Down For Success

The St. Louis Cardinals may need to order a new jersey for first baseman Matt Adams after he dropped 25 pounds this winter.  This puts him down to 235 on the scales from 260.

In order to lose weight, Matt Adams focused on three things: he bettered his diet, he began to do Pilates, and he ran.  The hope behind this for Adams is to create more consistency at the plate.  The 2016 St. Louis Cardinals season proved not so great for Adams, as he hit .249.  For more on the weight loss, Derrick Goold wrote and article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Adams is not the first player in the past few years to try out weight loss.  In recent memory, CC Sabathia and Pablo Sandoval both thought that weight loss would benefit their careers.  They had varying results.

Sabathia’s weight experiment did not go well.  Before the 2013 season CC had lost forty-five pounds, bringing him down to 275.  This was a process for him.  After the 2011 season, he lost twenty-five pounds to take pressure off of his knees after he had surgery.  Then the following season, he shed twenty more pounds following the death of his cousin due to a heart attack.

After all the weight came off, Sabathia watched his ERA go from 3.38 in 2012 to 4.78 in 2013.  His strikeouts dropped by thirty and hits allowed rose by forty.  There was a lot of speculation of why his numbers worsened with the weight loss.  The most common was the fact that he no longer had his stomach to hide the grip from hitters.  Whatever the reason, he pitched better with weight.

That is a pitcher’s weight loss.  And while Sabathia’s performance declined, that doesn’t necessarily speak to how the weight loss will affect a hitter.  Pablo Sandoval has had a better experience losing weight.  There was no conformation about how much weight was lost before the 2014 season, but the one thing that was clear is that he did lose weight.

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The result for him were numbers that were similar to previous season.  The amount of homers hit by the Sandoval raised from fourteen to sixteen, and his average went up by one point.  Following that season, however, he signed a huge contract with the Red Sox and his weight rose again.  That translated to losing his everyday third base job last year, striking out four times in his six at-bats as a starter.

The biggest improvement for the Panda after losing the weight came in the field.  His fielding percentage rose significantly from 2013 to 2014, going from .940 to .971.  His UZR rose from -4.7 to 3.5.

Adams and Sandoval both started at 260 pounds.  So if there are any more similarities between the two, the backup Cardinals first baseman could become a better fielder.  But that may be the extent of the weight loss.  His hitting may remain pretty much the same as it has been.

At 28 years old, Adams’ weight loss could make him more marketable.  He has two years left on his contract, and the St. Louis Cardinals have been shopping him around.   The other option is that his improved defense could make him a valuable asset to the organization.  This allows for more creativity with the versatile Matt Carpenter.

Regardless, Adams is healthier now.  The loss of twenty-five pounds reduces his risk of injury going forward.  And maybe the focus on fitness will result in improved hitting.  Possibly enough for him to compete to start.

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If history is any indication, it is hard to know what to expect.  It didn’t work for Sabathia, and while it didn’t hurt Sandoval, it didn’t help the way fans hoped it would.  Time will tell how the twenty-five-pound difference will help Adams, and if it will be in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform.