What's in a name?
Now taking the mound for the ASU baseball team to close out the ball game: #Believe. Behind the plate, #MontvilleCannon.
The Sun Devils have been powered in large part due to the offensive prowess of #JohnnyBaseball and #Tortuga, making their names (and their nicknames) well-known across the Pac-12.
The ASU baseball team finally showed the world the nicknames behind its biggest stars, revealing them Thursday afternoon:
Get your hookup on #ASU baseball nicknames. RT @ASU_Baseball: If you didn't know, now you know #GiveEmATaste pic.twitter.com/VF23pTGzpr
— State Press Sports (@statepresssport) March 27, 2015
The names range from pop culture references to players' home towns, providing another layer of insight into these players' lives as student-athletes. Junior outfielder Johnny Sewald goes by the name of #JohnnyBaseball, a nod to current Browns and former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, also known as "Johnny Football" during his 2013 Heisman trophy campaign.
Redshirt senior outfielder Trever Allen has been with the program a while, as is shown when his teammates refer to him as #Gramps. Sophomore catcher Zach Cerbo is a native of Montville, New Jersey, hence his moniker, the #MontvilleCannon.
Nicknames such as #House and #Woody provide shorter versions of some of the team's longest surnames, shortening the names of senior outfielder Jake Peevyhouse and sophomore infielder Colby Woodmansee. Few, if any, have as much dedication to their nickname as junior catcher RJ Ybarra, a.k.a. #Tortuga, who has a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle tattoo:
Oh nooooo..... It's the #Tortuga !!! @ASU_Baseball pic.twitter.com/il709yPbNY
— RJ Ybarra (@ybar_14) March 1, 2015
Reach the assistant sports editor at fardaya@asu.edu or follow @fardaya15 on Twitter.
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