2011 Home Run Derby: Previewing Each Of Monday Night’s Participants

Career home run totals for the 2011 Home Run Derby participants:

Kemp has never hit 30 or more home runs in a season. He is on pace for something like 40 this season, but in his previous five seasons, he was a hitter with power, not a power hitter.

The 2005 Home Run Derby at Comerica Park in Detroit matched sluggers from eight different countries. But this one could be termed “USA vs. the World”.

Oh, he hits home runs, but that’s not what he’s known for. He’s what broadcasters, managers, and old-timey baseball people might call a “professional hitter,” which means that he gets paid money to play baseball. Good for him. Sounds like fun. But it’s also a catch-all phrase for a hitter that does everything well without blowing away the league in a single category. Ichiro! is a professional hitter when he hits .303 with 15 home runs, not when he’s hitting .372. Then he’s something else entirely.

But what does that mean for Holliday’s chances in the 2011 Home Run Derby? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Usually Holliday is facing “pitchers” who throw from “sixty feet and six inches away” in a “competitive environment” and “really fast-like.” In the Home Run Derby, he’ll be facing a pitching coach of his choice, who will lob balls down the heart of the plate. It’s slightly different for everyone. In 2007, Holliday finished third in the Home Run Derby with 13 home runs. In 2010, he hit only five home runs in a first-round exit.

Here’s my question (and it’s got two parts) ...

Why wasn’t Jose Bautista the one doing the choosing?

From Bodog we finally have what everyone has been waiting for: betting odds for the 2011 Home Run Derby.

This is a marked change from the 2007 Home Run Derby, which featured Bautista at ∞/3 odds. So based on the 2011 home run totals of the contestant...

This is a trendy concept; the NHL All-Star teams this past season were chosen like a pick-up game. How long until the All-Star Game itself is done this way?

All participants get 10 outs per round, with the four players with the most homers advancing to a second round. The two players with the highest cumulative number of long balls after the second round advance to the Championship Round, where first and second-round homers do not carry over.The Home Run Derby, which will generate charitable donations to Boys & Girls Clubs of America as well as charities chosen by Fielder and Ortiz, will take place Monday at 8 p.m. ET and be televised on ESPN.