Jason Hammel hopes that eating potato chips will help prevent cramps
How’s this for a revolutionary new dietary technique amongst pro athletes?
According to Jesse Rogers of ESPN on Saturday, Cubs right-hander Jason Hammel, who has battled cramping in his legs and hands this season, is adopting a drastic measure to get the sodium and potassium intake necessary to combat the cramps: eating potato chips in the dugout during starts.
“We’re addressing it,” Hammel was quoted as saying. “There’s new things you can take that have a lot of potassium. Just trying to find the right formula. You might see me on the bench with a bag of chips because [team physician Stephen Adams, M.D.] said it’s the carbs and the salt.”
The 31-year-old Hammel has been a solid end-of-the-rotation guy for the Cubs this year with a 7-5 record, a 3.46 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP, and 79 strikeouts. But he has historically struggled in the second half of the season and is willing to take any action necessary to prevent that from happening once again in 2016, junk food or otherwise.
Whatever Hammel has decided to do, apparently it’s working so far as he earned the victory in his first start of the second half on Saturday, throwing six innings of one-run ball to defeat the Rangers by the final of 3-1. Now the only question is if the noted Pearl Jam fan is more of a Lays man or a Ruffles man.
H/T Baseball Reddit
