#Reporter’s viral Pablo Sandoval photo drew fat shaming and regrets

Baseball writer Andy Baggarly is feeling the weight of his actions.

On Saturday, Baggarly, who covers the San Francisco Giants for The Athletic, tweeted out an unflattering photo of third baseman Pablo Sandoval from spring training. The rotund Venezuelan appeared to have added some extra pounds during the offseason and the response to Baggarly’s photo — which drew plenty of fat-shaming and Twitter potshots — took even the veteran scribe by surprise.

“Why attach the photo?” Baggarly tweeted on Sunday, noting the original post noted Sandoval’s offseason arm surgery. “Because I’m one of, like, a dozen media members who get to watch these workouts, and it’s my job to report on how the players are looking. Rather than comment on Sandoval’s condition, I attached the photo so readers could decide for themselves.

“Do I regret sending the tweet? As a reporter, no. It’s news. It’s my job. But on a personal level? Heck yeah, I regret it. This is no time to add anxiety to someone’s life, and I know Pablo had to be hurt by the reaction that followed. That sucks and I’m sorry for it.”

Listed at 5-foot-11 and 268 pounds, Sandoval has gone by the “Kung-fu Panda” nickname, inspired by the plus-sized animated hero.

If the Giants were concerned about a heftier Sandoval, who hit .268 with 14 homers and 41 RBI in 108 games last season, manager Gabe Kapler didn’t show it.

“He’s demonstrated that he’s healthy, and that’s the most important thing,” Kapler said. “He’s not going to bat leadoff for us. The expectation with Pablo Sandoval is he slugs. He drives the baseball. He’s a good DH candidate for us. He’s got nice soft hands, and all of those things are present in camp and those are the things that we’re going to be focusing on.

“Already in this short period of time he’s demonstrated it. I have a lot of empathy for Pablo and what it must be like to be dealing with this kind of scrutiny, and I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”