Blog Bat Around: The Alphabet Challenge (inspired by Fuji and Foster the Meeple)

About a week ago, I wrote a post where I took the letters in my blog's name and paired them up with board games that I liked.  The idea for that "alphabet challenge" came from a board game YouTube channel that I follow (Foster the Meeple) but now, thanks to Fuji's suggestion, I'm going to turn that into a Blog Bat Around!

The rules of the Blog Bat Around are simple.  Take the letters in your blog's title and then pair each letter with a baseball player that you like (feel free to use either first or last names when pairing your letters).  

To kick off the Blog Bat Around, I'll begin with my blog's title:  Nachos Grande.  I decided to go by last names for my letter choices.

Nuxhall, Joe:  The ol' left-hander!  I wasn't alive for Nuxhall's playing days but I did have the pleasure of listening to him on the radio during my youth.  
Altuve, Jose:  The Astros cheating scandal has definitely soured me on Altuve but before that I would have said that Altuve was my favorite active MLB player.  I still have a small Altuve PC though I've definitely added fewer cards to it lately due to the remaining stink of the scandal.

Casey, Sean:  One of the best things about Sean Casey during his playing days was that it always looked like Casey was having fun.  Baseball is a game and I like my favorite players to at least act like they are enjoying the process of playing the game.
Harang, Aaron:  Harang was one of the few bright spots on a lot of miserable Reds teams during the mid-to-late 2000s.
Ohtani, Shohei:  Not a lot of good options for names beginning with "o" in my opinion.  I do enjoy the human highlight reel known as Ohtani.
Sabo, Chris:  It was Sabo, not Barry Larkin, that has the honor of being my first-ever favorite player!  I still have a modest Chris Sabo collection of cards, though I don't actively collect his cards today.  

Green, Hunter:  Hunter is probably the Reds' best hope for any sort of success in 2023.  Green has elite strikeout material stuff and if he can harness his control (and stay healthy), he could be a dominant starter.  That's a lot of "ifs" though for a big, hard-throwing guy like Green.

Ripken, Jr., Cal:  Ripken is another guy who I have a small PC of, like many of the stars of the 90s (my childhood).  Of that group (Gwynn, Thomas, etc.) I think that Ripken is definitely my favorite of them all!
Arroyo, Bronson:  In baseball, there are tons of pitchers who are throwers but there aren't nearly as many guys who are pitchers.  Arroyo was a pitcher through and through, he never had dominating stuff but when his game was "on" man was he fun to watch.  Unfortunately, when his game was "off" he'd get lit up like a Christmas tree in no time flat!
Niekro, Phil:  I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel of "n" names here as I don't have any particular affinity for Niekro other than the fact that good knuckleball pitchers have always intrigued me.  
Davis, Eric:  In another universe, Eric Davis could have been one of the all-time greats in baseball...and all in a Cincinnati Reds uniform.  Unfortunately for both Davis and myself, that universe is not our universe but I'll still always like Eric the Red!

Encarnacion, Edwin:  Back when Edwin was a Red, I "lovingly" referred to him as E5 because he was a third-baseman who was bound to make an error anytime the ball was hit to him.  Luckily, he did improve in the field some over time, unluckily though, it wasn't while he was a member of the Reds!

And there you have it, NACHOS GRANDE in baseball players that I like.  This ended up being quite challenging for me as I'd say only Jose Altuve, Sean Casey, Chris Sabo, Hunter Green, Cal Ripken, and Eric Davis are guys that I even sort of collect.  Definitely had to dig deep for some of the letters!  I'd love to see what you all come up with, feel free to leave a comment below with a link to your post so I don't miss it!