Commentary

Panda Express

MLB Draft: <a name="&amp;lpos=story_in" href="http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9295644/national-league-central-team-needs-targets-2013-mlb-draft?addata=2009_insdr_mod_mlb_xxx_xxx">NL Central targets
Olney: <a name="&amp;lpos=story_in" href="http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/post?id=1719&addata=2009_insdr_mod_mlb_xxx_xxx">Scanning the bullpen market
Szymborski: <a name="&amp;lpos=story_in" href="http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9297550/anthony-rendon-best-house-solutions-contenders-mlb?addata=2009_insdr_xxx_sce_mlb_xxx&addata=2009_insdr_mod_mlb_xxx_xxx">Best in-house upgrades
Cameron: <a name="&amp;lpos=story_in" href="http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9307819/john-lackey-first-success-boston-starts-first-pitch-mlb?addata=2009_insdr_mod_mlb_xxx_xxx">Lackey's first-pitch success
Law: <a name="&amp;lpos=story_in" href="http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/keith-law/post?id=827&addata=2009_insdr_mod_mlb_xxx_xxx">Diagnosing Hosmer, Moustakas' woes

The Giants put their top young hitter through boot camp to get fit

Updated: December 31, 2009, 9:10 AM ET

By Tim Keown | ESPN The Magazine

This column appears in the Jan. 11 issue of ESPN The Magazine.

Pablo Sandoval's posture is giving him away. He sits in the trainer's office at AT&T Park, leaning back as far as possible in a tilting desk chair, his hands laced behind his head, eyes fixed on the ceiling, "Operation Panda" T-shirt almost but not quite covering his stomach.

It is lunchtime, late in the second week of Operation Panda, a 22-day November fitness and nutrition program the Giants organized to educate the chubby and marvelously talented Sandoval -- Kung Fu Panda to Bay Area fans -- on the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

To read more about Pablo Sandoval's diet and the journey's of Mike Hessman, you must be an ESPN Insider.