Boston Red Sox

‘Astro’s Dad’? The Red Sox will be wearing these nicknames on their jerseys soon

By Nicole Yang

2 minutes to read

Fans are used to seeing Benintendi, Betts, and Bradley Jr. atop the jerseys of Red Sox outfielders, but they’ll see Benny, Mookie, and JBJ the last weekend in August.

As part of the inaugural MLB Players Weekend, the league will allow teams to replace players’ surnames with nicknames. According to Boston’s utility man Brock Holt, the idea gives players an opportunity to “show some more of their personality, a little more than they are usually able to do.”

The Sox released their choices via Twitter on Wednesday.

While some of the monikers are spin-offs from players’ names (e.g. “X” for Xander Bogaerts and “CY” for Chris Young), others require a little more backstory.

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For example, David Price will be donning “Astro’s Dad” in honor of his French bulldog. Named after George Jetson’s dog, the loyal companion often stars in Price’s Instagram photos. He was even featured at the base of the lefthander’s bobblehead that was distributed at Fenway during a game last Spring.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFPh9fMuN5V/?taken-by=davidprice14

Dustin Pedroia will be sporting the notorious “Laser Show” above No. 15. He famously uttered these two words while defending former teammate David Ortiz to the media in 2010.

“David’s fine. He’s one of our teammates,” the second baseman told reporters, who were asking about Ortiz’s struggles at the plate. “It could’ve been me who hit into a double play. It happens to everybody, man. You know he’s had 60 at-bats. A couple years ago, I had 60 at-bats and was hitting .170, and everybody was ready to kill me too. What happened? Laser show.”

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It turns out, however, that “laser show” actually predates Pedroia’s Red Sox days. According to Jeff Evans, the former sports information director at Arizona State, it was an integral part of the 33-year-old’s bravado back in college, too.

“He’d come in and say, ‘Laser show today, laser show today, I’m going to hit bombs today,’ then he’d go out and do it,” Evans said, via ESPN. “That’s the way he carried himself, and it didn’t stop.

Other nicknames include “Stickman” for Chris Sale’s slim physique, “2-bags” for Mitch Moreland’s doubles, and “Grande Rojo” for Blaine Boyer’s fiery red hair.