The baseball player who lost a staggering amount of weight has piled the pounds back on after discovering he plays worse as a slimmer man . The death of his cousin to heart disease inspired Carsten Charles Sabathia to lose a massive 17kg between October 2013 and March 2014 . But the 34-year-old played poorly and many - including himself - believe his skinny figure could not support his towering six-foot , seven-inch frame . So after dropping down to a much healthier 122kg , the Major League baseballer has again ballooned to around 136kg . Before and after : New York Yankees ' pitcher CC Sabathia lost 17kg for the 2014 season ( left ) but piled the pounds back on this year ( pictured ) The struggle : Sabathia ( pictured this year ) says the reason he played worse as a skinny man is because he felt 'off balance ' Toning up : Sabathia ( left ) looked in the best shape of his life as he toned up for his wedding to Amber ( pictured ) in January last year . The New York Yankees pitcher looked in the best shape of his life during on his wedding day in January 2014 . Famous for having a more rotund figure , the sportsman showed of his newly toned body in a suit he could not have dreamed of wearing a year before . He said : ' I feel like this is a good weight . I feel a little stronger . I feel my legs under me , being a lot stronger , and being able to push off the mound . ' The six-time All-Star put on around 9kg while recovering from a knee injury , and 5kg more over the winter . During his 14-year-career , he has weighed as much as 142kg but the loss of his cousin in 2012 inspired Sabathia to battle his obesity for fear he would suffer the same fate . He said : ' I lost a bunch of weight drastically , pretty quick , two years ago . 'Kind of was off balance and did n't know really how my body was working . So just talking to Dr. Ahmad and to the trainers , I feel like this is a good weight . ' Bigger man : The six-time All-Star ( right ) put on around 9kg while recovering from a knee injury , and 5kg more over the winter . Powerful : He said : ' I feel like this is a good weight . I feel a little stronger . I feel my legs under me , being a lot stronger , and being able to push off the mound ' Even a talent spotter noticed the decline in his usually stellar performances when he was a slim pitcher . He told the Boston Globe : 'The weight loss has created a balance problem for him . He 's all over the place . 'He 's learning how to pitch in that body , a body he 's really never had . I do n't think there 's anything wrong with him other than that . 'Sometimes you pitch at a certain weight all your life and then someone has the brilliant idea that you should lose weight because it 's putting stress on your knees , you do it , and then you 're dealing with something else . '
CC Sabathia lost staggering 17kg in just five months to improve his health . He was inspired by death of his cousin to heart disease in December 2012 . Score: 6