Adam Duvall, the Cincinnati Reds left fielder was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes four years ago. Now, every time the slugger steps onto the field, he has a quarter-sized glucose meter adhered somewhere on his body. Another needle inserted under his skin is linked to an insulin pump that he stashes in his back pocket. Regulating his blood sugar is crucial to ensure that he has the necessary energy to play the game successfully.

“Every time he hits a home run or does something well, I joke with him, ‘What’d you give yourself, a couple of extra pumps to get you going a little more?'”

Teammate, Tyler Holt says that he knows the disease is super-serious, but in the jocular world of baseball, he confesses that teammates enjoying messing with  him about the illness because he’s having such a fantastic year.” “Every time he hits a home run or does something well, I joke with him, ‘What’d you give yourself, a couple of extra pumps to get you going a little more?'”

Back in 2011, Duvall was concerned that he was waking up five or six times an evening  to urinate. A month later, he noted weakness and lightheaded and that weight-training became almost impossible. When he reported to spring training with the San Francisco Giants he had lost 20 pounds and during an exhibition  game that March, he dizzy he had to come off the field.

The vast majority of people with Type 1 diabetes are diagnosed before the age of 20. Duvall was 23. “It wasn’t a huge ordeal just because I really just wanted to find out what was going on,” he said. “When I found out, I took a deep breath and was like, ‘OK, where do we go, what do we do now, and just take care of it.'” Like a true competitor, he’s excited about breakthroughs in performance technology, including new pump technologies that will simplify his regime.