Astros’ hilarious new minor league nickname might be the wildest yet

It's become a popular trend among minor league baseball teams to create alternate identities. The Binghamton Rumble Ponies — which is already a rather odd nickname—will take on the moniker of the Bathtub Donkeys later this summer. The Louisville Bats, the Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, became the Derby City Mint Juleps for a few games in 2024. It's a good natured way to draw in a few extra fans, and let's be honest, make some extra cash through clever marketing gimmicks.

But the Asheville Tourists, the Houston Astros High-A affiliate, may take the cake for the most creative, and frankly, most disgusting nickname for a minor league team ever. The Tourists will be known as the Snot Otters — which is another name for a hellbender (a large salamander native to North Carolina) — during their game on June 6 against Winston-Salem.

Astros’ hilarious new minor league nickname, the Snot Otters, might be the wildest yet

For those unfamiliar, the Tourists have been affiliated to the Astros multiple times over the years, but the latest iteration has been linked to Houston since 2021. Prior to that, the Tourists were a minor-league affiliate of the Colorado Rockies (1994-2020). The Asheville-based franchise has previously been known as the Orioles, Mountaineers, and Moonshiners, and the Tourists have called McCormick Field home since 1923.

But this'll be a first for the fans in western North Carolina, though those who live there have surely heard of a snot otter before. The snot otter, or hellbender, is a fully aquatic salamander with a flat head, a flat body, and beady eyes. They can be found in eastern and southeastern parts of the United States from New York down to Mississippi. Sorry Astros fans, if you live in the Houston-area, you won't be able to get a closeup view of a hellbender unless you find one at a zoo or an aquarium.

Hellbenders are one of three giant salamanders found throughout the world, and grow up to two feet in length and weight over three pounds. The South China giant salamander can grow up to almost six feet long.

The Tourists will take the field as the Snot Otters on June 6 and will auction off jerseys ahead of the game with proceeds going toward the WNC Nature Center.

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