The St. Paul Saints -- known for their tomfoolery on gamedays -- traditionally employ young pigs to help out with delivering game balls to umpires ... and host an annual contest to come up with a silly moniker for each animal (past winners include Ham Solo, Notorious P.I.G., etc.).

This year's winner beat out candidates like Porky Blinders and Sloppenheimer ... but once the name was announced, some folks felt it flirted with fat-shaming, considering it's a nod to the popular weight loss drug.

To further piss off the haters, the team made a fictional backstory about how the swine was ashamed of its figure and vowed to "show off his abs and defined hocks" throughout its term as ball pig.

Saints VP Sean Aronson addressed the un-porcine-ate reactions this week ... claiming he understands what the naysayers (if only this was a story about a ball horse) are saying, but "there was no ill-intent, there was no maliciousness, there was never even a discussion in the room when we were going over the name that hey, this may offend some people."

Despite the criticism, Aronson said OzemPig is here to stay ... as the team knows deep down the true intent behind the name.