The Cincinnati Reds have signed a guy who sounds like he was just born to play baseball.
Cincinnati made a notable international signing this week, agreeing to terms with infielder Ichiro Cano. The 18-year-old Cano is a Baja California native and graduated from Academia Beisbol Alfredo Harp (a popular baseball academy in Mexico that produced MLBers like Giovanny Gallegos, Julio Urias, Isaac Paredes, and Victor Gonzalez).
A CINCINNATI
El joven infielder sudbajacaliforniano Ichiro Cano fue firmado por los @Reds para iniciar una carrera rumbo a MLB.
Cano, de 18 años de edad y nacido en San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur, es egresado de la @AcademiaAHH y el pasado invierno fue obtenido por los… pic.twitter.com/N8u56T4rB8
— Beisbolpuro (@Beisbolpuro) February 5, 2024
Much of the attention though went straight to Cano’s incredible baseball name. It gets even better too as it was revealed that Cano’s full name is Ichiro Cano Hernandez (though he appears to go by just Ichiro Cano).
The Cincinnati Reds have signed the 18-year-old (turns 19 tomorrow) infielder from San Jose del Cabo, Mexico with one of the most baseball names ever:
Ichiro Cano Hernández 🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/FB0ItblWGr
— Shawn Spradling (@Shawn_Spradling) February 6, 2024
The memes quickly ensued as fans could not get over Cano’s name. Many joked that it was a combination of Ichiro Suzuki, Robinson Cano, and Felix Hernandez and that the Seattle Mariners had to find a way to acquire him.
Here were some of the posts on X about Cano.
https://twitter.com/mikeaxisa/status/1754214112580472842
Ichiro Cano Hernandez is a Hall of Fame name.
— Big Red Machine (@BigRedTweeter) February 6, 2024
There is 0 reasons Ichiro Cano Hernández shouldn’t be on the Mariners.
The MLB needs to take action and just give the Mariners the guy. https://t.co/tQM6P3dfQy
— Seattle Mariners ON Tap (@MarinersONTap) February 6, 2024
They Mariners need to trade for this dude ASAP
Ichiro – Suzuki
Cano – Robinson
Hernandez – FelixHe is the Chosen One for Seattle https://t.co/jUPbWKiaYm pic.twitter.com/KQgEnkGM0f
— Devine Sports Gospel (@DevineGospel) February 6, 2024
“Cano” and “Hernandez” are probably just a matter of happenstance here since those are fairly common names in the Latin world. But with Ichiro Suzuki making his MLB debut in 2001, he may have had an influence on Cano’s parents (Cano was born in 2005).
Cano is a switch-hitter who plays both shortstop and third base and hit .250 during limited run in the Mexican League last season. But for now, we can lump him into the category of the generational baseball names we’ve seen this MLB offseason.
