ESPN baseball analyst Jessica Mendoza tried her hand at a new workout when Cubs Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta instructed her on the benefits of Pilates.
Earlier this year Jessica Mendoza joined the team of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball and it shouldn’t come as a shock that she’d be heavily involved with Spring Training coverage. And that now includes Pilates lessons by Cubs Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta.
Why Pilates?
Arrieta considers Pilates as one of the most important aspects of his training regimen. His well documented transition into a healthy lifestyle includes Pilates 6 days per week to help with post game recovery time and injury prevention.
With Mendoza as one of the greatest softball players in the history of the sport, she got her chance to try out the workout during ESPN’s stop at the Cubs Spring Training grounds.
Arrieta’s Cubs aren’t the only team to adopt Pilates into their training program. In February division rival St. Louis Cardinals announced the hiring of a Pilates instructor for the first time in team history to ensure their team was building muscle mass, core strength and enhancing flexibility. San Francisco Giants’ Hunter Pence is also a big fan of the workout along with several other pro players hopping on the Pilates (and yoga) train.
Kinda cool to see the parallels of a female baseball analyst in Mendoza being instructed by a male baseball player in Arrieta on a Pilates workout. Our worlds are slowly gelling together and it’s a beautiful thing.
