Last season, baseball fans got to know Marlins slugger Mike Stanton as he had a breakout year, hitting 34 home runs and driving in 87 runs.
But today he revealed that he actually prefers to be called Giancarlo.
From the Associated Press
His mom calls him Cruz. Teammates call him Bigfoot. Most baseball fans know him as Mike Stanton, precocious slugger for the Miami Marlins, but his first name is actually Giancarlo.
“The man of a million names,” Stanton said.
He likes them all, but with spring training cranking up and Stanton touted as a future home-run champion, he said Wednesday he prefers Giancarlo.
For the first time, that’s the way he’s identified on the Marlins’ roster. That’s also the name on his paycheck and above his locker. That’s what team owner Jeffrey Loria calls him.
But Stanton’s dad calls him Mike, and many of his relatives call him Mikey.
“I respond to many names,” he said. “It’s all good.”
So last year, the Marlins closer revealed he was not Leo Nuñez, but rather Juan Carlos Oviedo.
Then the team itself announced that they were changing their name from the Florida Marlins to the Miami Marlins as they moved into a new stadium.
Now one of the centerpieces of the team announced that he prefers to be called Giancarlo.
What’s next, Logan Morrison is going to reveal he wants to be called Superman Martinez?
I don’t know, but the name Giancarlo Stanton just doesn’t flow for me. And Giancarlo doesn’t sound like a guy who can hit 700 foot home runs. Sounds more like a situational lefty or a player on the New York Red Bulls.
Would not surprise me in the least if this revelation coincided with the fact that the Miami Marlins are trying to be Latin America’s team and Giancarlo is Spanish friendlier than Mike.
