Must-Read: The Transformation of a Royals Pitcher

Tim Collins

Pretty great read over at Men’s Health this week. It’s the story of Tim Collins, a pitcher for the Kansas City Royals (yes, those Royals, who are not very good yet but, according to everyone in the world, will be in a few years). Specifically, it’s how he went from a wimpy little pitcher to one pitching in the majors:

On the fourth pitch, a 91-mph fastball, Izturis lines a single into left field. Not the way Collins would?ve chosen to start off his major-league career. But considering how far he?s already come, this is nothing.

Four years ago, Tim Collins was a 131-pound high school senior who stood 5’5″ and threw an 82-mph fastball.

That’s where the story starts, but being Men’s Health, they get pretty into it with what Collins’ workouts were and how, along with conditioning coach Eric Cressey, they dramatically changed his body (and, therefore, even more dramatically changed his salary):

Strength coach Eric Cressey started working with Collins on October 12, 2007. That week, Cressey and his business partner, Tony Gentilcore, took Collins out to a track to see what they had to work with. Cressey and Gentilcore, it should be noted, are not runners. Cressey is a competitive powerlifter. Gentilcore is a big, strong dude. And they ran Collins into the ground, finishing 8 to 10 yards ahead of him on every sprint. They tested Collins? vertical jump at a mere 25 inches.

It’s a great read for anyone into working out or is a baseball fan. Now imagine if someone like David Ortiz actually cared about conditioning!