Comments on: Stop trashing Prince’s diet

By: melissa

melissa — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:36:38 +0000

Coley,
You must be ecstatic to hear that Oprah is going to be waving the big foam finger for the veggie lifestyle. She’s going on a 21 day vegan detox diet. Vegetarians everywhere will be hoping she doesn’t do to them what she did to James Frey. Forget what dietitians think Oprah will tell America and baseball writers everywhere what to think about a life sans meat. Prince may soon have the only advocate he needs to support his new lifestyle.

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By: coley

coley — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:17:02 +0000

I think Sarah hit it right on the head. What’s crazy is that people are worried about Prince now that he’s a vegetarian, but they were totally fine with him before, when he was downing Whoppers and fries like a stoned Kobayashi with a case of the munchies. Funston says he is surprised the Brewers didn’t rush out and hire a dietitian after Prince went veggie, but I’m shocked they didn’t hire one years ago.

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By: Sarah Green

Sarah Green — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:35:15 +0000

I’m still not convinced JD’s suckage was because of his family issues. I’m sure they didn’t help, but I think the better explanation was the one he gave this spring—he was standing in the wrong spot in the batter’s box. That seems much more likely to directly affect his hitting performance than his emotional state. But that’s not something we could know from parsing his stats on Baseball Reference.

That said, let’s parse some of Prince’s stats on Baseball Reference just to see what’s there. His P/PA is slightly up, but he seems to be striking out on a few more of those deep counts instead of walking, since his BB/PA and his BB/SO rates have declined slightly from last year. His AB/HR rate has gone from a homer every 11.5 at-bats last year to a horrifying 27.2 rate this year. His BABIP, at .283 last year, is a little lower this year at .267, but it’s not dramatically awful. He is, however, hitting doubles at almost exactly the same rate (once every 16.4 games in 07 and once every 16.3 games this year). For what that’s worth. Yet there is a swing in his GB/FB ratio—last year, it was .80, this year, it’s 1.02. What do we make of this?

If you look at his numbers from 2006 and 2005, you can see just how dramatic his breakout in 2007 was. Maybe he’s just falling back to earth a little bit. Maybe his timing is off, or he’s not “seeing the ball,” or maybe he’s hiding an injury. I mean, we could speculate all day. But if you’re going to speculate about his new veggie diet, I think it’s important to remember that *this was not a healthy man to begin with.* It’s not like his diet was perfectly Zen-balanced before, when he was knocking back the buffalo wings and quarter-pounders with cheese.

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By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:25:44 +0000

I absolutely agree that every major leaguer should be working with a dietitian, Sarah. I’m honestly shocked that the Brewers don’t have one. A proper diet is one of the easiest ways to improve athletic performance.

However, it’s even more key for vegetarian athletes, as they have to pay more attention to what they’re eating. It’s certainly doable with only a modicum of effort and knowledge.

As to whether or not we should be jumping all over his diet, answer these questions.

Has he changed his stance?

Has he changed his weight training?

Has he changed his conditioning?

Does he party more?

Has he changed his diet? YES

I’m going to go with the obvious explanation, until someone can provide information otherwise.

Think back to last year’s J.D Drew in Boston. Most Boston fan’s thought like this:

Does JD Drew just outright suck balls? YES

Does JD Drew have some family issues right now? . . .

It wasn’t until people found out about his family issues that they realized he might have something other than himself to worry about.

Until someone can shed some light on other possible issues that Prince Fielder might be experiencing, I’m going to go with the fairly simple assumption about most athletes: He doesn’t know a thing about regular diets let alone vegetarian diets, and it’s hurting his performance.

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By: Lyndsay

Lyndsay — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:23:55 +0000

FAT. BOYYYY! (which I had to say every time Bartolo Colon came back up last night, and it will be a while before it gets old)

I think Fielder should go on the Miguel Cabrera/Bartolo Colon diet, aka “I don’t geeve a sheet, mang, I aint losin weight for no contract!” diet.

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By: Paul Moro

Paul Moro — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:18:06 +0000

But there’s a difference between a “possible explanation” and an “explanation”. The fact that his diet has been highlighted above other theories that are just as probable seems a bit unfair to vegetarians. Like they’re weak in comparison.

Jesus, I’m actually defending vegetarians? What the hell is wrong with me?

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By: Nick Kapur

Nick Kapur — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:08:31 +0000

I don’t know. I think it is fair to speculate about whether or not Fielder’s new diet is affecting his play. I don’t think we can by any means rule that out. And I don’t think it’s necessarily a “lazy explanation.” Speculating about why players are performing how they are performing is part of what being a baseball fan is all about, and in the absence, to our knowledge, of any other major difference between 2007 Prince Fielder and 2008 Prince Fielder, I don’t see why it should be completely off-limits to wonder whether becoming a vegetarian has played a role in his apparent decreased performance, just because being vegetarian is PC and awesome and healthsome and cuddly or whatever.

I mean, we can’t say that that is definitely the cause, but then, nobody is really saying that. They are just wondering, and I don’t see why that should be totally forbidden to even consider going down that road.

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By: Paul Moro

Paul Moro — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:56:29 +0000

I make fun of vegetarians all the time. But even I know that essential proteins are still readily available without meat. Saying that vegetarians don\’t have the proper nutrition to be successful athletes is a total blanket statement. Just like omnivores, vegetarians have diets that vary from individual to individual. It\’s not so cut-and-dry as to label them all under one roof and call it a day. Just like there\’s a right way to be an omnivore, there\’s a right way to be a vegetarian.

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By: Sarah Green

Sarah Green — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:00:57 +0000

Rich, I agree that making the switch to a veggie diet takes some management, but I think in sportswriting the “easiest explanation” is often synonymous with the “laziest explanation.”

Yes, Prince should probably be working with a dietitian. But so should every other major leaguer.

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By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:45:21 +0000

Coley, your bias is showing.

We KNOW Prince Fielder has changed his diet. Thus it’s the easiest explanation. If we KNEW Ryan Howard had changed his diet, you can be sure people would be picking on that as well.

Also, the article that was linked to is spot on. Recommended protein per pound of bodyweight for athletes is 1g. 300g might be a bit much, but it certainly isn’t going to hurt. Remember, we’re talking about 6′2″ 260lb guy here, who plays baseball almost everyday. He couldn’t even get a leg into those skinny jeans that are so popular.

The most important line of that article is the last:

“Making the switch to a vegetarian diet – for anyone, the dietitian said, “is not just, ‘I’m not going to eat meat anymore, la la.’ It takes some management.”

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