Ranking the Oakland A’s 2018 player weekend nicknames

Major League Baseball has its second annual Players’ Weekend coming up in late August. As part of the festivities, the players get to choose their own nicknames to wear on their jerseys in place of their normal last names on Aug. 24-26. Those nicknames were announced by the team on Thursday.

Here’s the full list! You can also click here to see last year’s version.

Starting pitchers

• Brett Anderson: Anderson
• Trevor Cahill: T.C.
• Mike Fiers: Kai
• Edwin Jackson: Scoop
• Sean Manaea: Manaealator

Relief pitchers

• Ryan Buchter: 5 Deuce
• Jeurys Familia: La Fama
• Chris Hatcher: Hatch
• Shawn Kelley: Kelleytime
• Emilio Pagan: Emiliooooo
• Yusmeiro Petit: Yus
• Blake Treinen: Train
• Lou Trivino: Sweet Lou

Catchers

• Jonathan Lucroy: Luc
• Josh Phegley: PTBNL

Infielders

• Franklin Barreto: Kaki
• Matt Chapman: Chappy
• Jed Lowrie: Capt. Barrel Jedi
• Matt Olson: Oly
• Marcus Semien: Sauce

Outfielders

• Mark Canha: Tom Ace
• Khris Davis: KD
• Matt Joyce: Sweet Swingin’
• Ramon Laureano: Laureano Noodles
• Nick Martini: Tini
• Chad Pinder: Chi
• Stephen Piscotty: MoMo

Coaches

• Mike Aldrete: Aldo
• Darren Bush: Bushy
• Ryan Christenson: Ryno
• Jeremy Dowdy: Dowdy 5000
• Scott Emerson: Emo
• Marcus Jensen: MJ
• Bob Melvin: Bomel
• Al Pedrique: Al
• Phil Pohl: p²
• Matt Williams: Big Marine

There are a few pretty good ones on there. My biggest disappointment is that we didn’t get anything from Brett Anderson, whose sense of humor is possibly his strongest tool as a pitcher (he suggests Noon or BA). I also wish Davis had stuck with Khrush instead of KD, especially when there’s already a KD who plays in the building next door, but to each his own. Treinen took a step back from last year’s B-Lockay.

We’re missing new acquisition Mike Fiers, so we’ll see if he comes up with something or just uses his real name like fellow newcomer Laureano (who presumably wasn’t here yet when names were submitted). (Update: Fiers is going with “Kai,” and Laureano ended up switching to “Noodles.”) On the bright side, the coaching staff stepped up compared with last year, though I confess I had to turn to Google to remind myself who bullpen catcher Jeremy Dowdy is.

We have a list, so of course we have to rank them. Here’s an early attempt at a Top 5.

Honorable mention

I don’t know the specific explanations behind Scoop or Sauce, but they have the potential to rise up the list with a cool enough backstory. Williams has a solid choice in his long-time nickname Big Marine. I’m assuming Dowdy 5000 is a play off the slang use of Audi 5000. Piscotty talked about his name MoMo last summer (link):

Piscotty said he picked up the nickname when he was playing Little League Baseball at the age of about 6 years old. He’s wearing it now as “as a way to recognize family back home.”

5. Emiliooooo

I don’t know if it’s specifically a reference to A Night At The Roxbury, or just a fun way to say Pagan’s first name, but either way I like it.

4. Tom Ace

Presumably this is an Ace Ventura reference, as the detective uses this alias in his first movie. Canha’s definitely got the hairstyle and sideburns to pull off a Jim Carrey comp.

3. Capt. Barrel Jedi

Apparently Lowrie wanted to use Jedi, which is what many folks already call him, but can’t for legal reasons according to Susan Slusser of the S.F. Chronicle. In lieu of that, though, he came up with a pretty fun replacement, which is quite a bit more creative than last year’s selection of simply Jed. UPDATE: Never mind, Jedi got approved after all, reports Slusser. This doesn’t change the rankings, but I’d call it an improvement.

2. PTBNL

Phegley topped the charts with this one last year, and he stuck with a winner. It’s still excellent.

1. Manaealator

Brilliant!

These rankings are just my knee-jerk opinion, though. Vote in the poll to pick your favorite!