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Every day is dinger day in MLB, but there’s only one Home Run Derby
Monday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at what makes Home Run Derby homers special, a Cubs trade rumor, and why we deserve Giancarlo vs. Judge.
Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images
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Happy Home Run Derby day, y’all! Sure, we see homers constantly in our day-to-day lives, at least from April through October, but something about the Derby is different. And this holds true even in today’s game, where we’ve had multiple studies in the past few weeks saying that the baseballs are different and causing more homers more often, even forcing a response from Major League Baseball on the subject.
That’s not to say the Derby is perfect, but man, what it gets right, it nails, and recent changes have and should continue to improve the show. The format is now different, with speed part of the emphasis: That’s huge, given the Derby was a slog to get through, often making homers seem not even worth our time. This year, we also move from Chris Berman to Karl Ravech as Derby announcer, which promises for a far different experience. A better one? Well, that’s to be seen: Berman did know what he was doing long enough to become a mainstay at the event before everyone tired of the shtick.
Giancarlo Stanton showed us a year ago that, even in a world full of homers, the Home Run Derby is not only fun, but necessary. Will we see another historic performance on Monday, or just a whole lot of longballs? Either result is worth your time, especially since the whole thing is and feels so much swifter than it did even two years ago.
- Speaking of Stanton, the beefy defending champion against the young, beefier upstart Aaron Judge is the Home Run Derby Finals we deserve. And even if you don’t deserve it because you are terrible in every way outside of your devotion to this newsletter, you sure do need these two to face off, and we’ll accept that.
- Rockies’ rookie Kyle Freeland took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the White Sox, but his 126th pitch wasn’t as successful as the 125 before it, and Melky Cabrera ended the no-no attempt with a hit to left.
- The Home Run Derby begins at 8 p.m. ET, and here’s what else you need to know to watch.
- The bracket has been set for a few days, but if you want to refresh your memory before the Derby dingers fly, you can.
- The Cubs have considered trading one of their young position players for a starting pitcher. The problem is that Kyle Schwarber’s value is currently shot, and they probably need their other young hitters at least partially because of that.
- The Red Sox are reportedly interested in a Martin Prado/David Phelps trade package with the Marlins.
- The Brewers are shaking up their rotation for after the All-Star break.
- Baseball Prospectus is attempting to measure pitcher similarity so pitchers can be compared across various contexts.
- Rob Manfred will answer questions at a town hall on Monday, so hopefully everyone keeps asking him more about the baseballs and maybe why there isn’t another international team yet.
- Team USA defeated the world’s top prospects at this year’s Futures Game, with the Rays’ Brent Honeywell named MVP.
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