It’s become common spring baseball jargon to say that Player X is ‘in the best shape of his life’, but how often does it turn out to be true? And how often does it really improve that player’s performance in the upcoming season? I thought it would be a fun and interesting exercise to track all of the Giants’ players who are entering spring training in the ‘best shape’ of their life. Or, by a similar thread, those that have improved themselves (new pitch, new batting mechanics, etc.) in some way.

The idea is that we’ll keep a running tab of all the ‘best shapes’ here on the site, and then when the season is over, we’ll look back at our list to see who really benefited from a new workout routine or a new pitch. This is going be a community project of sorts — I’ll need your help to keep track of all the media coverage in which a player has done something beneficial over the offseason as they prepare for a new year of baseball. If you see a story extolling the virtues of an offseason workout program, or the time a player spent learning a new skill, email me the link, or you can post it in the running comments for this series. Remember to include a source for any story that you find.

Depending on how fast the ‘best shapes’ stories surface, we’ll most likely update this running list once every week. Spring baseball is prime time for this kind of stuff and I anticipate that we’ll see more stories develop as baseball approaches.

Here’s our current small list:

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Alex Hinshaw – Has added 20 lbs of muscle in order to maintain strength throughout the season. (Source: The Chronicle)

Pablo Sandoval – The once heavy Panda has shed a few pounds — numbers aren’t exact (17-22 lbs has been thrown around), but numerous reports of a slimmer Panda have surfaced. (Source: The Chronicle)

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I’m sure that I’ve missed a few stories. But this should serve as a starting point for our ‘best shapes’. Happy hunting!