|
Warning: this is a silly juvenile posting, but I have noticed some particularly funny names in
organized baseball this year – at least, to my WASPy ears. Perhaps, “funny” isn’t quite the right
description, but there is something notable about each of these names. By
organization (sorry, American League only):
Baltimore Orioles: Nate McLouth, Many Machado,
and Nick Markakis - that’s three interesting M names to make up for the brief stolid anglo names of Adam Jones, Chris
Davis, and Brian Roberts. Wei-Yin Chen – don’t know if this
is an unusual first name in Chinese Taiwan. Jair Jurrgens – doesn’t get much stranger than that. Pedro Strop and Jonathan Schoop
– well, maybe it does. Brain Matusz – included because his “stuff” was the talk of the
spring a couple years ago. Niuman Romaro – Is this a Venezuelan twist on Newman? And is that a first name? These three
names need no explanation: Tsuyoshi Wada, Zealous Wheeler, Trent Mummey. Lex Rutledge – not so odd, but a tongue-twister.
Say it fast. Boston Red Sox: You know Jacoby Ellsbury, Shane Victorino, Dustin Pedroia, Will Middlebrooks, Clay
Buchholz, Felix Doubront, John Lackey, Joel Hanrahan, Koji Uehara, and most of all: Jarrod Saltalamacchia. You probably
know: Junichi Tazawa, Ryan Lavarnway, Xander Bogaerts, and Bryce Brentz. But did you know: Kolbrin Vitek,
Jeremy Hazelbaker, Adalberto Ibarro, Kyle Kamisnka, and Blake Swihart? Or, Rubby De La Rosa (It has a great rhythm to it.) Or the namesake
of Coldplay’s and Gwyneth Paltrow’s Chris Martin? Bob Shirley played in the Majors for a decade - why
not Manuel Margot?
New York Yankees: For one reason or another Ichiro Suzuki,
Kevin Youkilis, C.C. Sabathia, Joba Chamberlain, Robinson Cano and Andy Pettitte each raise the needle slightly on the amusement
meter. Some lesser known Yankees have some fun names, too: Boone Logan,
Clay Rapada, and Francisco Cervelli. Coming up are: Addison Maruszak, Abraham
Almonte, and Ronnier Mustelier. How many of you are always getting Delin
Betances and Manny Banuelos mixed up? Tampa Bay Rays: Their most likely 1-3 hitters: Desmond
Jennings, Yunel Escobar, and Ben Zobrist. James Loney –
how is that pronounced? The name Jake McGee is more funky than
funny. Sam Fuld is a fan favorite. Too bad Dane De La Rosa was just DFAed. Nick Weglarz,
Jake Odorizzi, and Taylor Guerrieri are prospects. Kes Carter
and Neil Schenk are in the organization. Toronto Blue Jays: Most distinctive names:
Colby Rasmus, Maicer Izturis and Emilio Bonifacio. J.P. Arencibia
has as many syllables as Edwin Encarnacion. They both flow. Melky and
Rajai have unique first names. Josh Thole, Ryan Goins, and Aaron Loup
have short odd last names. Then there’s Jim Negrych, Lance Zawadzki,
Gabe Jacobo, Ryan Schimpf, Tommy Hottovy, Jason Leblebijian, Jeremy Gabryszwski, and a Smoral, Ghysels, Nanita, Sikula, and
Tyler Ybarra. Chicago
White Sox: Dewayne Wise has a funny spelling to his first name. Addison Reed is unusual in a very dignified way. Phegley and Omogrosso are last names that do not conjure up the most pleasant images. Marjama is better. Cleveland Indians: Asdrubal Cabrera, Eziquiel
Carrera, Lonnie Chisenhall, Chris McGuiness and Ubaldo Jimenez make for memorable names from the Major League roster. Yan
Gomes might make the team. What about Cord Phelps? Deeper
in the minors they have Dorsyss Paulino, Giovanny Urshela, Carlos Moncrief, and two pitchers I hope come up at the same time:
Kiernan Lovegrove and Michael Goodnight. Detroit Tigers: Have funny spellings
for first names: Torii (Hunter) and Jhonny (Peralta). They have a Prince (Fielder), Anibal (Sanchez), Octavio (Dotel), Quintin
(Berry) – or Avisail (Garcia), and two Brayans (Pena and Villarreal). For last names they have Coke (Phil), Dirks (Andy),
Fister (Doug), and look out Below (Duane) who may be fighting for a roster spot with Smyly (Drew). The stand out name on the farm is Matt Tuiasosopo. Kansas City Royals: The Major League Royals names aren’t that strange, although Lorenzo Cain is a bit of an unexpected combination.
Johnny Giavotella is a large mouthful. So, is Guillermo Moscosco. Alcides (Escobar) strikes me as a made-up first name, but
I’d have to live in Venezuela to be more confident of that. In fact, it seems unusual first names are what is usual
in Venezuela with the generation in that is now in their 20s. There are
plenty of eye-catching names deep in the Royals org: Sharlon Schoop, Whit Merrifield, Ian Gac (that’s only 6 letters!),
Kenny Diekroeger, Nicholas Cuckovich, Cheslor Cuthbert, Bryan Brickhouse, and Daniel Stumpf. Minnesota Twins: The projected Twins line-up has some terrific names: Chris Parmalee, Trevor Plouffe, Pedro Florimon, Darrin
Mastroianni. The team has a Duensing and a Doumit. Anthony Swarzak is in the pen. My favorite name in their minors: Candido Pimentel. Houston Astros: There are no wildly
named Astros, but their AAA pitching rotation could have Brad Peacock, Jarred Cosart, Dallas Keuchel, and Brett Oberholtzer.
Down in AA are Matthew Heidenreich, Asher Wojciechowski, and Wes Musick. I like the name Max Stassi. He might be catching
Jason Chowning, Murilo Gouvea, and Pat Urkfitz. In the low minors, is one of the Astros' top pitching prospects by the unlikely
name of Mike Foltynewicz. Also high on their prospect list are two palyer with the same names as former Major Leguers (yes,
their dads): Delino DeShields and Lance McCullers.
Los Angeles
Angels of Anaheim: that in itself is a weird name. Trout,
Aybar, Pujols, Trumbo, Callespo, Iannetta, and Bourjos give their line-up plenty of catchy last names. The most striking full
name on the team has to be Ernesto Frieri. Down on the farm they
have Cassevah, Shuk, Schugel, Chaffee, Kobayashi, Cron, and Mutz. Oakland Athletics: Of course, Coco Crisp
is one of the all-time greatest names – if you like humour and pizzazz in your name. It’s much better than the
merely silly Milton Bradley or the once pervasive Howard Johnson. Hiroyuki
Nakajima may be normal in Japanese, but it sounds funny in English. A Daric is an ancient Persian gold coin – or the
struggling A’s first-baseman named Barton. If you google Yoenis, all you get is Cespedes. You could make a mild case for each member of the bullpen: Grant Balfour- too close to “ball four” for a pitcher. Ryan Cook - not so unusual, but “cook” is a word – not that I’m including every word
name. Sean Doolittle – not unusual either, but taking the last
name as two words, it is not flattering. Jordan Norberto –
an odd combination of names. Pat Neshek, Jerry Blevins, and Chris Resop
– they all sound a little funny. They could have Jemile
Weeks in AAA, Conner Crumbliss in AA, B.A. Vollmuth on the high A team, and Chih Fang Pan in the next level below that. Seattle Mariners: Of the starters, certainly Kendrys (Morales) has the most unusual first name and Kelly Shoppach gets my award
for the most unusual last name. Charlie Furbush and Lucas Luetge head the whacky bullpen names. The Angels have Trout, but
the Mariners have Carp. Both are Mikes. Hector is Noesi. His
mates in Tacoma last year included Catricula, Truinfel, Bantz, and Chance Ruffin. If you know French, the farm system has
a Jesus Sucre (Jesus Sugar) and a Bobby LaFromboise (which is almost Bobby the Raspberry ). Tacoma even has one pitcher whose
name is poetry: Forrest Snow. Texas Rangers: If Yu Darvish doesn’t win some sort
of name award, how about Tanner Scheppers? Coty Woods could make
the team. Jurickson Profar could make the team and be a star. This org also has: Zach Zeneski, Nicholas Tepesch, Wilmer Font, Yonata Ortega, Lisalverto Bonilla
(Don’t call him Lisa for short.), Tyler Tufts (It’s my alma-mater.), Evan Meek (who shall inherit the runners),
Joey Gallo (I assume he’s not a mobster.), Hanser Alberto, Odubel Herrera, and, an odd name favorite: Rougned Odor.
Those last two are Venezuelan. That confirms it; the weirder the name the better for those zany Venezuelans.
|
