Major League Baseball

Chipotle the path to the majors?

Published Feb. 20, 2013 12:00 a.m. ET

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Usually, reporting to spring training is a time when players make news for how much weight they’ve lost. Just this year, for instance, Josh Hamilton made news for showing up to Los Angeles Angels camp 20 pounds lighter than he played at last season.

Well, tell that to Seattle Mariners infield prospect Nick Franklin.

According to The Seattle Times, Franklin, who is 6-foot-1, spent the 2012 season — split between Double-A Jackson and Triple-A Tacoma — playing at about 162 pounds. He says that he noticed the deficit late last season, when he ran out of energy and balls just didn’t seem to be traveling well off the bat.

“Last year, during the season, I felt my body starting to collapse on me,” Franklin told the newspaper recently. “At the end of August, I weighed 162 pounds and I was hitting balls to the gap that probably should have been out and they ended up going off the wall. One of them bounced to the wall.

“Those balls could have been out, so I wanted to put a lot of weight on and try to get to at least 200 pounds by the end of the spring, take the season from there and see whether I can maintain it.”

So, Franklin and the organization agreed that he should put on some weight and get up to 200 pounds to help last throughout the grind of a full baseball season. And to do that, Franklin has been on a diet of 6,500 calories per day since last fall.

Franklin’s daily eating routine is impressive. Each of his three meals are 1,500 calories, alone, and he mixes in several 500-calorie shakes throughout the day. Some of his favorite haunts for high-calorie food include Chick-fil-A, Chipotle Mexican Bar and Grill and Carrabba’s Italian Grill.

“It’s hard to hold it down sometimes,” Franklin said. “Other than that, I feel like I’m on a full stomach the entire day. There’s not one point where I’m hungry. I’m always full when I’m eating, let’s just say that. I’m always eating when I’m not supposed to be eating.”

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