While the MLB All-Star Game takes over Seattle, a “controversy” emerged.
The tradition of nicknames in sports is long, as is the occasional re-hashing of nicknames. Enter Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher Félix Bautista.
Bautista hasn’t been around the league for a while. The right-handed Dominican Republic native joined the Orioles’ Major League club last season. Thus far, Bautista has been hard for hitters to handle. He has thrown 172 strikeouts across 107.2 innings pitched, which tracks to a K/9 of 14.4.
In 2023, the Oriole reliever has recorded 84 strikeouts — four fewer than his total all of last season – in 42.0 innings. His K/9 of 18.0 leads all Major League relievers ahead of names like Alexis Diaz, Craig Kimbrel, Josh Hader, and Devin Williams.
So fans and otherwise have dubbed Bautista “King Félix.” Now, you can imagine where this goes next if you’re familiar with Seattle baseball. The Mariners used to house the great Félix Hernández. Hernández also went by the name “King Félix,” which created an ‘awkward’ situation.
Granted, much of the banter felt playful in nature, and nickname decorum is not the strongest of stances to go ten toes down on. Don’t tell that to Seattle radio host Dave Mahler of 950 KJR.
Mahler attended the MLB All-Star Game festivities at T-Mobile Park on Monday before the 2023 Home Run Derby. Bautista was posing for pictures while holding his nameplate up. But the radio host talked to him eventually, asking him how he felt about the Orioles and their social media team calling him “King.”
Straight from the horses mouth. Knock that shit off @Orioles pic.twitter.com/BILSTxuyDx
— Dave “Softy” Mahler (@Softykjr) July 10, 2023
Bautista, to his credit, took the awkward question in stride. He seemed to agree that it should belong to Hernández. However, it seemed clear that it didn’t seem entirely necessary to press the guy about it. Bautista likely didn’t ask for it, and even if he did, it’s all just in good fun. Or at least it’s supposed to be.
In what will likely be written off as a small potatoes issue, it doesn’t make this any less cringy.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022