A Yankees reliever has recorded his first 'K' of the season.
The pitcher known throughout his 12-year professional baseball career as Zach Britton announced Thursday he will henceforth be known as Zack Britton.
Breaking News: I will be going by my legal name “Zack” instead of my stage name “Zach”..... everyone continue to breath normally... #beenlivingalie #birthcertfail
— Zack Britton (@zbritton) February 7, 2019
The Yankees sent out an email to media members shortly thereafter saying Britton "has asked to have the spelling of his first name corrected to Zack" going forward.
While the new name will take some getting used to, there is some precedent. The closest equivalent would be White Sox manager Rick Renteria, who was known as Rich during his playing days. That appellation eventually changed after he mentioned to a reporter that everyone in his family called him Rick.
More recently, the former MLB outfielder B.J. Upton, who came up using that nickname in Tampa Bay, then asked to be known by his birth name of Melvin Upton Jr. beginning in 2015, said on MLB Network this offseason he has returned to being known as B.J.
Of course, neither change is as extreme as the one undergone by former reliever Roberto Hernandez, who initially gained stardom under the name Fausto Carmona in Cleveland before Dominican officials found he had falsified his birth certificate.
