Joey Votto dropped the secret so casually that nobody believed him.
Speaking in a Zoom press conference in the second week of the season, Votto mentioned outfielder Tyler Naquin in one of his answers, but he used a different pronunciation of Naquin’s last name.
“Tyler ‘knock-ann,’” Votto said. “I said that right, ‘knock-ann.’ Are you sure it’s ‘nay-quinn?’ I think it’s ‘knock-ann.’ I think it’s ‘knock-ann,’ if you ask him. It’s French, if I’m not mistaken. You can laugh all you want, but I think it’s ‘knock-ann.’ It’s French. I speak French. It’s ‘knock-ann.’”
Naquin was new to the Reds, but it’s not like he was a guy who was new to the Major Leagues. He played five seasons with Cleveland and finished third in the American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2016.
Rob Butcher, the Reds’ media relations director, thought Votto was playing a joke. He approached Naquin afterward and asked him about it. Naquin said it was indeed the correct way to pronounce it, but he asked broadcasts to continue saying it as “nay-quinn” as they have throughout his career.
Paul Daugherty: Joey Votto's remarkable statement about his career
“Butch thought I was joking,” Naquin said. “I’m like, ‘Butch, I’m dead serious, brother.’ He looked it up on Google and everything. He was like, ‘No way.’”
Naquin’s family heard people say his last name incorrectly throughout his childhood – his older brother, Zac, played baseball growing up, too – because it’s a cajun pronunciation. His dad instructed public-address announcers to just say it how it’s spelled.
“It was hard for people to say Naquin, so it’s like, ‘might as well just say it how it looks,’ and people still mess it up,” Naquin said. “Just say it exactly how it is. Say the name Quinn with N-A in front of it, Naquin. Pretty simple. But people always mess with athlete’s last names, so it ain’t nothing new. But yeah, it’s really pronounced, ‘knock-ann,’ but nobody believed me until Votto said it. They didn’t even believe him.”
The last time that Naquin remembers somebody pronouncing his last name correctly, without him bringing it up first, was about four years ago. His agent told him about Fairchild Sports Performance, a facility in Houston, where players like George Springer, Cavan Biggio, Jed Lowrie and others train in the offseason.
That’s where Naquin met the owner, Ben Fairchild.
“When I went down there, Ben said, ‘Man, you’re not a na-quinn, you’re a knock-ann,’” Naquin said. “I was like, ‘Yeah.’ He was like, ‘Dude, my whole family is in Louisiana.’ I said, ‘Well, half of my family was in Lafayette.’ That was probably the very last time that someone without me having to tell them. It was fun. Every day I work out there in the offseason now, he calls me knock-ann.”
A couple of years into Naquin’s Major League career, he told longtime Cleveland broadcaster Tom Hamilton that it would be funny if he switched it up for one game to confuse listeners.
“He’s like, ‘it’s been two-and-a-half years already, brother. I can’t switch it up now, they’re not going to know who is hitting,’” Naquin said.
INDIA UPDATE: Jonathan India was replaced by pinch-hitter Mike Freeman in the sixth inning Tuesday, but he was back in the lineup Wednesday.
“He did everything he could to get through the game,” Bell said Tuesday night. “I don’t know what percentage to put on it, but he was struggling a little bit. The thing is, the type of injury he has, he is going to get better each day. With the lead there, range being important and having Freeman to be able to go in there, give Jonathan a few innings off, hopefully get ready for tomorrow, that was the thought there.”
India, known for his toughness, told Bell after Tuesday’s game that he wanted to start Wednesday’s game.
“I’ve been reassured that it’s just going to get better each day,” Bell said Wednesday morning. “It should be better today than it was last night.”
FARMER SITS: Kyle Farmer had three hits Tuesday, finishing a triple shy of the cycle, but he was out of the lineup Wednesday as he battles through a lower abdominal strain.
“He might not be in the lineup every day between now and the (All-Star) break but we’ll take it one day at a time,” Bell said. “The more rest he can get, the better. He’s been playing through a lot and playing really well. We’re just trying to take care of him.”
Source link
