The legendary baseball player Babe Ruth was also a legendary eater.
He reportedly ate 10 hot dogs a day … just to tide himself over between large meals of steak, fried potatoes and ice cream.
But for baseball players today, nutrition is becoming just as important as batting practice.
In Major League Baseball, teams are required to have full-time chefs and dietitians as part of a contract agreement with the players union
And that has trickled down to the minor leagues, where teams take charge of what players eat, ordering meals and working with some players on individual nutrition plans.
That includes the Wind Surge, Wichita’s Double-A baseball team.
During a homestand last month, players started drifting into the clubhouse around noon for their first meal of the day: beef and chicken tacos from Abuelo’s.
Outside the locker room, Lilly Araujo was sitting on a trainer’s table, working on her laptop. She was scheduling meals for the rest of the team’s homestand against the Springfield Cardinals and the weeks ahead.
Araujo is a performance dietitian for the Minnesota Twins, the parent club of the Wind Surge. She grew up around food – her parents operated a series of restaurants and other food businesses – and got interested in nutrition as a collegiate swimmer at New Mexico State University.
“Just got to know more about how food is fuel for performance, how important it is for recovery and just continuing to progress throughout your career,” said Araujo, 27, who has undergraduate and graduate degrees in sports nutrition.
Araujo handles meal planning for the Wind Surge, as well as Minnesota’s minor league team in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Her colleague, Isabella Burrola, does the same for teams in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Fort Myers, Florida.
Araujo is in her second year with the Twins after spending two years in the Houston Astros organization. She said her job is more about teaching players about nutrition than it is about acting as the food police.
“A lot of times people think nutrition needs to be perfect, or there's good and bad foods,” she said. “But for Isabel and I, we don't think that there are good and bad foods. It's just all about timing, portion, and just educating on what these foods do and how they can help your body, or when there is a more optimal time to do it.”
A typical day for Araujo includes having food ready – it’s called the supplemental meal – when players arrive at the stadium at 12:30. That’s followed by a pregame meal at 5 – on this day it was chicken and pork from Hawaiian Brothers Island Grill – and then a postgame spread: barbecue with all the trimmings from R Coffee House.
“We try and offer two different protein items, two different carb options, some kind of fruit or veggie, and then maybe like a little side option, which could be like a bread,” said Araujo, who uses food from local restaurants as well as the in-house cater at Equity Bank Park.
“Our simple term is a protein, a carb and a color is what we always try and offer.”
That might seem like a lot of food, especially when you mix in snacks like power bars and smoothies throughout the day.
But Wind Surge infielder Jake Rucker said a lot of fans don’t understand that players routinely log 10 to 12 hour days during the season.
“We have to get here … right after lunch every day and actually practice before we play the games,” said Rucker, who played collegiately at the University of Tennessee. “It's not like we're just showing up at 6 o'clock, do a little warm-up, and then go play at 7 o'clock. There's there's a lot more to it than you think.”
Rucker reported to spring training in early February. His 138-game season in Wichita – which includes about a dozen road trips – won’t end until mid-September.
“Obviously not feeding your body with the right stuff is not going to be able to help you maintain your body and your energy levels throughout the whole year because it's a long year,” Rucker said.
“And even though baseball isn't like a super … physical sport, it does take a lot out of you because it's like such a mental sport, and so mentally, it can drain you.
“And so if you're not eating right, then you're really not helping yourself.”
Araujo also has a lot of 10 to 12 hour days at the park. In addition to getting meals set up, she works with the strength and conditioning coaches, and talks with players throughout the day about any questions they might have.
The Twins begin working with players on nutrition as soon as they enter the organization, helping them create good eating habits. Araujo said the interest in how nutrition can impact performance continues to grow.
“Isabel and myself are both excited to see how far nutrition has come, especially in sports;” Araujo said.
“Even throughout the time from college to now, being on our fourth, almost fifth year of pro sports, just seeing nutrition continue to grow is super exciting.”
