WINNIPEG — From “The Great One” to “The Babe” and even “Mr October”, nicknames and sports go hand in hand. This season, one Winnipeg Goldeyes hurler came to camp sporting a moniker you won’t soon forget.
His nickname is ‘The Big Nude’ but probably not for the reasons you’d expect. He’s six foot four inch Goldeyes starting pitcher, Zach Nuding.
“Everyone calls me, just because of my size is ‘Big Nude’,” Nuding said. “It’s kinda rolled off the tongue that way and I’ve just kinda rolled with it.”
Nuding, 27, is a veteran righty from Texas. He already knew five players on the team before he even arrived, so just a few days into camp the nickname has already stuck.
“I’ve heard it pretty much anyway you can probably fathom it,” Nuding said. “And it always kinda brings a smile to someone’s face when they say it for the first time, cause it’s usually funny to them, but it’s normal to me hearing it.”
Hearing umpires call strikes has also become normal for Nuding. He tossed three scoreless innings in his Goldeyes debut on Wednesday and manager Rick Forney has been trying to get him here for several years but Nuding kept getting jobs at the triple-A level.
“Good resume. Strike thrower, got really good stuff and we expect really big things from him,” Forney said.
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Nuding’s resume includes a stint with the New York Yankees after they drafted him in 2010. He even pitched spring training games in the pinstripes in 2013 and 2015.
“That was a cool experience,” Nuding said. “Obviously being around those guys like (Mariano) Rivera and (Derek) Jeter and guys like that, that as a kid I did nothing but just drooled over watching TV and watching those guys play. So it was cool to actually share a uniform and a field with them.”
And barring a surprise cut he’ll be sharing the field with the Goldeyes this season.
WATCH: “The Big Nude”
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