CC Sabathia gained weight on purpose

The days of the skinny CC Sabathia are over. You can now welcome back the overweight ace with whom you are more familiar.

Sabathia showed up to Yankees spring training on Friday weighing 305 pounds, which is at least 10 percent heavier than he was the past two seasons.

“I lost a bunch of weight drastically, pretty quick, two years ago, and was kind of off-balance,” Sabathia said Saturday via the New York Daily News. “I didn’t know really how my body was working.”

After posting eight excellent seasons in a row, Sabathia struggled the last two seasons as he dealt with injuries. Part of the problem might have been that he no longer had the huge frame to support himself, and his body broke down as a result.

Sabathia says he gained around 20 pounds while rehabbing his knee, and he added 10 more over the winter to put him at 305.

“I feel like this is a good weight,” Sabathia said. “I feel a little stronger. I feel my legs under me, being a lot stronger, and being able to push off the mound.”

If Sabathia does not return to his pre-2013 form, it might be due to his bum knee, which is said to be a degenerative condition. It also could just be that Sabathia is now 34 and threw at least 180 innings in every season from 2001-2013. His body was bound to break down at some point. Maybe the weight gain will help him. And why shouldn’t it? As we have said in the past, some ballplayers are meant to be fat. And when you lose weight, try not to make it as drastic as Sabathia did — the photos of his weight loss were crazy.