Pablo Sandoval will report to Boston Red Sox spring training next month looking like a new man. Whether it makes a difference, however, is the real question.
It certainly appears Sandoval — the butt end of jokes centered around his weight since signing a fat contract with the Red Sox prior to the 2015 season — has slimmed down. He’s taken seemingly every opportunity to show off his new body via social media posts this offseason.
The latest came Monday when he shared this photo of himself, Carlos Gonzalez, Jose Altuve and Miguel Cabrera at an apparent Team Venezuela workout for the upcoming World Baseball Classic — Sandoval recently said he was considering playing for his home nation.
Sandoval, listed at 255 pounds, certainly looks like he’s now operating at a lower weight class.
The swing looks good, too, as evidenced by this Instagram video posted last week.
You can really see in the video just how slimmed-down Sandoval looks, but it’s fair to save the ultimate praise for when Sandoval proves he can be a valuable contributor on the field … not just a guy who looks like he should be a valuable contributor on the field.
Sandoval is entering the third season of a five-year deal worth a reported $90 million, and he has just 129 games and 512 plate appearances to show for it thus far. He hit just .242 with a .651 OPS (160 points below the career .811 OPS he had when signing with Boston), and his defense was nothing to write home about it in his only full-ish season with the Sox.
Sandoval certainly is taking the right steps in rehabbing his image and trying to reshape his career in Boston. But Sandoval’s grand transformation won’t fully be completed until he shows he can perform at or near the level he displayed in San Francisco when he was among the best third basemen in baseball.
The 30-year-old lost his starting job entering the 2016 season when Travis Shaw beat him out in spring training, but the job is Sandoval’s to lose in 2017 after Boston sent Shaw to Milwaukee in an offseason trade.
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
