For Yankees’ Sabathia, It Appears Less (Weight) Is Less (Success)

Barton Silverman/The New York Times

C.C. Sabathia in 2011, before he lost 25 pounds to relieve pressure on his knees.

Theories about C. C. Sabathia's declining performance the last two seasons include the effect of his heavy workload — an average of 227 innings over 16 seasons — and his operation for bone chips in his pitching elbow after the 2012 season.

But then there is the theory, maybe not that far-fetched, that there is less life on Sabathia's pitches because there is less of Sabathia these days.

A 6-foot-7 pitcher with a wide girth and a longtime fondness for Cap'n Crunch cereal, Sabathia said he lost 25 pounds after the 2011 season to help take pressure off his knees after arthroscopic surgery.

Then, Sabathia said, he lost about 20 pounds after the 2012 season.

He indeed looked thinner on the mound in 2013, down to perhaps 270 pounds after weighing more than 300 in his first seasons in New York, which included a World Series championship in 2009.

But coincidence or not, and maybe that is all it is, Sabathia's pitches have lost velocity and crispness over the last two seasons. According to Fangraphs, the hefty version of Sabathia threw a fastball that averaged 93.9 miles per hour in 2011. Two years later, that velocity dropped to 91.2 m.p.h.

Sabathia, 33, gave up a career-high 28 home runs. He also allowed more hits (224) than innings pitched (211) for the first time.

Dr. Orr Limpisvasti, a sports medicine surgeon at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles and an orthopedic consultant for the Los Angeles Angels, said that Sabathia's weight loss should not be dismissed as a possible reason for his struggles.

"You can assume that when a big player that loses that much weight, you would have to know whether that was excess body weight that wasn't helping them," said Limpisvasti, who did not examine Sabathia. "You look at any physiological changes. That includes, has a player lost 20 pounds or put on 20 pounds? Is it lean body mass that he's losing? Is it excess weight?"

Limpisvasti has seen significant weight loss affect players in activities that involve repetitions of rotating the body like golfing and pitching. The change in weight alters the mechanics and the power these athletes generate.

"Players find the point at which their body is most efficient for them, healthiest for them and most durable for them," he said. "He's pitched with that body weight for a long time. Surely, losing that much weight can potentially change his mechanics and how his body works in terms of delivering a pitch."

Would Limpisvasti advise Sabathia to gain weight?

"That might be a bit of a stretch," Limpisvasti said. "But if his team and his pitching coach feel that the amount of weight loss he's had in whatever way, shape or form that is has detrimentally affected his delivery and his ability to deliver a higher-velocity pitch, or have more endurance or whatever beneficial parameter we're looking at, then surely that would be the case."

The list of overweight pitchers who have been successful include Babe Ruth, Early Wynn, Mickey Lolich, Rick Reuschel, David Wells and Bartolo Colon.

Leo Mazzone, a former pitching coach for the Atlanta Braves who tutored all shapes and sizes in his 32-year career, said that if it was not broke, don't diet.

"He needs to gain 25 pounds back," said Mazzone, who dispenses his pitching theories as a co-host on a daily sports radio show in Atlanta and on the Atlanta Braves' radio network pregame show.

"Somebody probably told him if he loses weight, he'll have more longevity," Mazzone said. "Well guess what? I'd rather have effectiveness."

Mazzone said that through the years, he found that pitchers had weight and fitness levels they were comfortable with. Dieting to reach ideal weights and working out to develop muscle tone do not necessarily help them pitch their best.

"In anything in sports, you have to find a happy medium," Mazzone said. "It's based on common sense."

Greg Maddux, the Braves' four-time Cy Young Award winner, Mazzone added, "wasn't muscle-bound, that's for sure."

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