Already, Zack steps in as Yanks’ Mr. K
TAMPA — Zack Britton’s wife made him tear up his contract with the Yankees.
The lefty reliever’s spouse is an attorney, and when she looked over the deal he’d just signed with the Bombers, she saw the problem. It was a three-year, $39 million contract for ZaCH Britton, the name the pitcher was known by throughout his first eight years in the big leagues… but not his legal name, Zack.
“I was born Zack, with a ‘ck,’ but I didn’t know until I went to get a passport it was really with a ‘ck.’ My parents had told me it was with a ‘ch,’” Britton said Monday after working out at the Yankees’ minorleague complex for the first time this year. “I am blaming my parents.
“The Orioles always just put the ‘ck’ on any legal documents and I went by ‘ch,’ with everything else.”
Britton had to have the Yankees rewrite the contract to reflect his legal name and decided to shed the stage name “Zach.”
“The Yankees felt it would just be better for everybody if I just kept it with a ‘K,’” said Britton, who admitted he was amused by how that went viral on social media. “It just kind of took off.” It is the perfect time for Britton to turn the page. A year ago, he was just learning to walk again after blowing out his right Achilles, requiring surgery. It was a long road back and a frustrating short season with him not returning to the big leagues with the Orioles until June 12. He was traded after just 16 appearances with Baltimore and was still trying to rediscover his form when he arrived in the Bronx following a trade in late July.
But this spring, Britton said, feels like “a regular spring training.”
“It’s normal, I threw a bullpen today, I threw a bunch already… I ran a mile, it’s the first time I ran a mile since I had surgery,” Britton said.
The 31-year-old Britton changed things up a little this past offseason to get to this point.
“When we got eliminated (in the American League Division Series last year), I took a day off and then started working out and started throwing a few weeks earlier than I normally would,” Britton said. “I threw a lot more bullpens than I ever would coming into spring training. I wanted to get rid of some bad habits I learned over last year and get ready for wherever I was going to go play.”
Britton is returning to an exciting and revamped bullpen. With the addition of Adam Ottavino to a group that already included Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances and Chad Green, it’s a bullpen heavy on high-leverage experience.
“It looks really good on paper. The track records are good, we’ve gotta go out and do it,” Britton said.