Baseball players may not have the reputation of being the most conditioned athletes, but White Sox conditioning director Allen Thomas would beg to differ.
It's because the players are well-conditioned they are able to endure playing in the extreme temperatures in Chicago this week, and in other places during the summer.
``They're used to it. They're conditioned to it,'' he said.
They also pay attention to the training and conditioning staff.
``We tell them `hydrate. Hydrate,'' Thomas said. ``They listen.''
A player like catcher Tyler Flowers lost 15 pounds of water weight playing in Thursday's day game when temperatures touched 102 at U.S. Cellular Field. ``But he probably drank 20 pounds of liquid to replace it,'' Thomas said.
``Herm [trainer Herm Schneider] does a good job of taking care of them, but that's a daily thing,'' Thomas said.
Replacing sodium, potassium and electrolytes that are sweated away is the primary concern, and players will drink great amounts of drink supplements. The Sox also for years have used a beverage development by NASA called appropriately ``The Right Stuff,''
``It was developed because dehydration was one of the first problems for astronauts in space,'' Thomas said.
``But the best thing is still water,'' he said.