The Prince of ESPN’s Body Issue Is An 125kg Baseball Player

Prince Fielder was a surprise inclusion among the six choices to appear on the cover of ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue. Image courtesy of Instagram.

The most eye-catching athlete featured in the upcoming annual ESPN edition is 125kg first baseman Prince Fielder.

The Texas Rangers first baseman was one of six athletes featured on different versions of the cover of the magazine. His bulky frame made him one of the more interesting choices. The five other athletes were Venus Williams, swimmer Michael Phelps, snowboarder Jamie Anderson, NFL player Marshawn Lynch and NBA player Serge Ibaka.

The six covers. Image courtesy of Instagram

"A lot of people probably think I'm not athletic or don't even try to work out or whatever, but I do," Fielder told the mag. "Just because you're big doesn't mean you can't be an athlete. And just because you work out doesn't mean you're going to have a 12-pack. I work out to make sure I can do my job to the best of my ability. Other than that, I'm not going up there trying to be a fitness model."

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He joked of his figure, "My dad has big arms, and everyone in my family has them, so it's just normal in my house. I had them when I was younger too, but obviously there was a little more cholesterol behind them [laughs]."

Venus followed in her younger sister's footsteps by appearing naked in the magazine.

While Venus isn’t the first Williams to go sans-clothing for the magazine – her younger sister Serena did in 2009 – it was no less daunting."It didn't dawn on me until right when I walked on set that I would have to be without clothes," Williams told the mag. "If I would have thought about it before, there may have been a little less of a chance."

Like Williams, 18-time Olympic gold medalist Phelps also poses nude, in his go-to element: the swimming pool. The muscular athlete, 29, who came out of retirement in April 2014, wears goggles and shows off his Speedo tan line on his cover of the Body Issue.

Of all the athletes, Phelps had come the closest to being naked in from of photographers before. Image courtesy of Instagram.

"I got fat and out of shape," Phelps said of his retirement figure. "It was hard because I had always eaten whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it. I would always be like, 'All right, I'll go work out,' and I would never ever go. Sure enough, 25 pounds later, I was still saying the same thing. That was just part of my learning process."

As expected, the choice of Fielder has been polarising.

The issue goes on sale this Friday. Check out the rest of the gallery here