Ty Kelly had a brief run with the Phillies in 2017, playing 69 games for the team.

The 31-year-old utility player has been a longtime journeyman, making multiple stops over the course of his career. That includes a couple of stints with the Mets in 2016 and 2018.

Recently, you may have seen that photo of the Mets’ newly refurbished Spring Training facility, with the $57 million upgrade. Some people thought it was cool that they’d make that kind of investment, while others thought it was a waste of money for a preseason venue.

Kelly quoted the tweet in question and wrote this:

That’s one sad sandwich. That’s not even something you’d serve to the Methacton baseball team, let alone professional players currently in Double-A or Triple-A

Coggin got in touch with Kelly and asked what was going on here, and he was nice enough to share this with us:

“In the minors, your organization provides your lunch for the road. You can buy your own food and bring it, of course, but they wouldn’t let us make our own food from the cafeteria to bring.”

“It’s a picture from Spring Training during my career. I don’t want to say how many years ago, because that would tell you which organization it was. My intention isn’t to call out one organization, because I know players in many have gotten meals like this. as far as what’s commonplace, every organization is different and several are making strides in nutrition. There are, however, many organizations that are stuck in the past and would rather cut costs at every corner than treat their employees like the professional athletes and investments that they are.”

I see nothing wrong with what Kelly is saying, and appreciate the fact that he doesn’t want to out one specific organization.

Think about how far we’ve come with nutrition and sports science in 2020. Think about Chip Kelly’s smoothies and that one time Gabe Kapler peeled the skin off his chicken nuggets. It does, indeed, seem ridiculous that minor league ball players would be subjected to a sandwich as pitiful as that one. You probably had better options on your little league team, when the moms would make food and bring it to the ballpark.

If our moms can get it right, then surely we can figure out a way for professional athletes to receive a nutritional upgrade.