Yankees reliever Zack Britton changes spelling of his first name
Yankees reliever Zach Britton against the Kansas City Royals on July 26, 2018. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
Zack Britton will be a different pitcher for the New York Yankees this year — at least in name.
Known throughout his baseball career as Zach, the 31-year-old reliever said Thursday going forward his name should be spelled Zack.
"I will be going by my legal name ‘Zack’ instead of my stage name ‘Zach,'" Britton tweeted. “everyone continue to breath normally.”
Britton said of his reason for not changing the spelling earlier: “It’s a long story. It never bothered me though.”
His name was spelled Zachary G. Britton by Major League Baseball when the Baltimore Orioles selected him in the third round of the 2006 amateur draft with the 85th overall pick and listed as Zach in each of Baltimore’s media guides starting in 2007.
He made his major league debut in 2011 and was an All-Star in 2015 and ’16.
Britton was traded to the Yankees last summer, became a free agent and agreed to a $39 million, three-year contract with New York last month.
