How sad. My sympathy to his family and his teammates for their loss.

Heat exhaustion and dehydration is really not drilled into young athletes enough, especially those who compete in hot weather. This is very serious business. Guys who are this big and exert themselves to this extent need fluids...a lot more than they think they need.

It's entirely possible that something else contributed to Bechler's condition, something that was unique to him. But we're beginning to see more and more cases reported of players experiencing dizziness and then contracting serious cases of heat exhaustion.

When a person runs out of fluids in their body, they can no longer regulate their internal temperature. In extreme cases, heat built up from the weather and physical exertion can cause their internal organs to literally burn. And a lot of times the player won't take himself out at the first sign of trouble because he's supposed to be a "competitor".

Players have to be told, if you feel abnormally short of breath or dizzy, get off the field immediately, gulp down lots of water and/or Powerade or whatever is on hand and rest in the shade.

Unfortunately, there are stories circulating that this player was taking ephedrine supplements and was overweight, two negative factors. I predict that an autopsy will likely reveal some kind of undisclosed heart condition. However, it has also been reported that the Orioles were duly diligent in running the workouts by encouraging fluid intake, and breaks every 12 minutes.

Condolences to the family. Apparently his widow is due in two months, which deepens the tragedy.

The web sites I've seen listed Bechtler at 6'2" and 239, which is pretty big. I also suspected a heart problem when I read the article.

My condolences to his family and teammates.

"The web sites I've seen listed Bechtler at 6'2" and 239"

In 2002 (BA Handbook) he was listed as being 207 lb's....so he put on 32 lb's in a little over a year. Was it muscle or something else?

In today's Sun, there is a touching story about two Jays who knew Bechler well -- Josh Towers and Jayson Werth.