Reds sign prospect with best baseball name of all time

If your hope as a parent is to see your child grow up to play baseball, you probably want to give him a strong name, right? Alliteration oftentimes punctuated the names of some of the greatest to ever play the game. Barry Bonds, Mickey Mantle, or former Cincinnati Reds infielder Buddy Bell follow that type of pattern.

Then there's the names that grab the attention of fans because of their uniqueness. Players like Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown, Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd, and Shoeless Joe Jackson come to mind. Of course, there's the iconic names like Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby, and Hank Aaron.

But a newly-signed Cincinnati Reds prospect has them all beat. This past week, the Reds signed 19-year-old, switch-hitting third baseman Ichiro Cano Hernandez. If there was ever a person with a name who was destined to play baseball, it's Hernandez.

Reds sign prospect with best baseball name of all time

While you probably assume that Hernandez's name is a combination of future Hall of Fame outfielder Ichiro Suzuki and longtime major league second baseman Robinson Canó, that couldn't be further from the truth.

According the MLB.com, Hernandez's father had a Japanese friend named Ichiro who was a surfer. Hernandez was named after his father's friend. But that's not the end of the story. Ichiro's family was also expecting a child around the same time, and his son was named after Hernandez's father, Eugenio.

Ichiro Suzuki was a 10-time All-Star, 10-time Gold Glove Award-winner, and also won the AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP in the same year. Suzuki will be on next year's Hall of Fame ballot and is a surefire lock to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Robinson Canó had a fine career of his own, and could be in the conversation for a trip to Cooperstown as well. However, two PED suspensions are sure to act as a black cloud hovering over Canó's candidacy. The eight-time All-Star will be on the Hall of Fame ballot in the next few years.

Ichiro Cano Hernandez will have to prove himself in the minor leagues before making the jump to the big leagues. But the teenager is off to a good start with perhaps the best baseball name of all time.