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All-Star Week turns to the Home Run Derby
Monday’s Say Hey, Baseball includes the lowdown on the Home Run Derby, Madison Bumgarner’s near-no-no, and Yunel Escobar’s infield drawing.
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
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Welcome to All-Star week! While there won’t be any games that matter from now until Friday afternoon, you won’t be left high and dry. The all-important All-Star Game is on Tuesday, but first comes the Home Run Derby, where eight of MLB’s best sluggers will battle it out head to head, home run by home run, until just one is left standing. And competing this year are some new favorites and old faces. Last year’s champion, Todd Frazier, made it in as a wild card along with Giancarlo Stanton, who competed in 2014. Robinson Cano, who won the trophy in 2011, is also joining in the fun, as are fellow Derby veterans Carlos Gonzalez and Mark Trumbo. But Corey Seager, Adam Duvall and Wil Myers are all Derby newbies.
For the second year in a row, the Derby is in a bracketed format. To start, the eight sluggers have been seeded based on their home run totals as of last Wednesday. In the first round, the first seed (Trumbo) will face the eighth seed (Seager), two (Frazier) will face seven (CarGo), three (Duvall) will face six (Myers), and four (Cano) will face five (Stanton). They get four minutes each, with one 45-second time out (two in the final round), and the winner of each head-to-head battle moves on to face the other winners. But that’s not all! A player can earn 30 seconds of bonus time if they hit two homers that measure longer than 440 feet. If players happen to tie at the end of a matchup, then they do a 60-second home run swing off. Feel the excitement!
Don’t let Stanton’s overall numbers this season fool you — the Vegas oddsmakers are favoring him to win it all. Since the beginning of July, The Mighty Giancarlo has looked more like his old self, batting .333/.394/.833 with four home runs in 33 plate appearances. But remember that Petco Park is Wil Myers’ home stadium. That certainly gave Todd Frazier a boost last year, even if that boost was just mental. Truthfully, any one of these eight players could win the crossed bat trophy. You’ll just have to tune in to ESPN or WatchESPN at 8 p.m. ET tonight to find out who.
- The Futures Game was last night, and it did not disappoint. Red Sox prospect Yoan Moncada hit a two-run jack in the eighth inning that gave the World team a 4-3 lead. The World would win 11-3, for the first time since 2009.
- The inning before Moncada’s homer, Cubs outfield prospect Eloy Jimenez made an unbelievable, outstanding catch in right field that has to be seen to be believed.
- Madison Bumgarner nearly threw a no-hitter last night, which is such a Madison Bumgarner thing to do right before the All-Star break.
- David Wright made a lovely gesture to first time All-Stars Jeurys Familia and Noah Syndergaard.
- The Dodgers outfield is going to be crowded again soon, which means that Yasiel Puig could be headed to a new team before the deadline.
- For anyone missing Yu Darvish — and let’s face it, that’s all of us — his rehab at Double-A Frisco is progressing.
- Yunel Escobar was tossed yesterday for drawing a picture in the dirt for the "benefit" of the umpires, and he did not want to talk about it after the game.
- For the Oakland Athletics, there is a season — churn, churn, churn, and a time for every trade under heaven.
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