The Home Run Derby Is Set And We've Got Some Big Boppers In The Field
Look at those names, just look at them. This is going to be an awesome derby. We've got a LEGEND in Albert Pujols, we've got the young up and comer in Julio Rodríguez, we've got Pete Alonso going for a 3pete, what a loaded derby. It was finalized yesterday with Corey Seager rounding out the field and he's a hell of an addition to the derby. Lefty with some big power. There are a few big names that I thought would be in there but didn't make the cut, kind of disappointing to be honest. But overall the field is awesome, lets do a quick little look at each matchup.
#1 Kyle Schwarber 28 Home Runs vs #8 Albert Pujols 6 Home Runs
Thanks for coming Big Al, hope you enjoyed it. This will be a quick derby for #5 but still a cool moment for him. Schwarber is made for this, Pujols is just along for the ride. I expect big Kyle to have his way with Albert, basically has a bye in the first round. Not much else to say about this one except Schwarbs is going to hit bombs, absolute bombs. My pick - Schwarber.
#2 Pete Alonso 24 Home Runs vs #7 Ronald Acuña Jr 8 Home Runs
It's a damn shame this is a first round matchup because these are 2 heavy hitters. This should be the finals. Pete Alonso really got the short end of the stick here, instead of Acuña being the #8 seed because of his home run total, he got bumped to #7 because of Albert. The star power in this matchup is awesome, two NL East monsters going at it in round 1. Both love to show emotion, rival teams, Frank will LOSE it if RAJ wins this, MLB Rigged. This should be the round of the derby if you ask me. My Pick - Alonso.
#3 Corey Seager 21 Home Runs vs #6 Julio Rodríguez 15 Home Runs
Seager rounded out the field and is a solid pick. Wonder if he gets "BOO'D" a little cuz he left the Dodgers last year, but he may get that Dodger love. J-Rod on the other hand is going to have a ton of support. He's a top prospect who has shined this year for one of the hottest teams out there, he is one of the future stars. This could be a very exciting matchup with some long ones, which isn't great because you have to wait for your last ball to land before the next pitch, Seager hits highhhhh long ones so that may work against him. My Pick - J-Rod.
#4 Juan Soto 19 Home Runs vs #5 Jose Ramirez 17 Home Runs
I don't want to live in a world where Juan Soto doesn't win a Home Run Derby. He's just too much fun, he has to eventually win one. He's had a "down year" by his standards, but I think Boras wanted him to do this to get his confidence back. He'll come in, hit bombs, smile and we'll go nuts. Jose Ramirez got a bad draw here too. Great hitter, awesome player, but I think Soto smokes him. J-Ram could surprise some people who don't really know him since he's in Cleveland, but I think this is Soto's round to lose. My Pick - Soto.
My big take away from the field is how the hell is Aaron Judge not in this? If you're leading baseball in baseball you should have to do the derby, those should be the rules. He won it as a rookie in 2017 and would have put on an absolute show. Instead he just isn't going to do it. SOFT. If Lebron gets shit for not doing the dunk contest we have to give Judge shit for not doing this. He's from California, this would almost be a homecoming for him, it's DODGER STADIUM, he's murdering the baseball. Why not do it? Talk about a guy who just doesn't get it, Judge missed the mark here.
And where is Stanton? He should be doing every derby ever. Like as long as he is on a MLB roster he should have to do the derby. Balls coming off his bat at 119 flying into the LA night would be awesome. Hubbs even said that Michael Kay said on the broadcast that he was going to do it, so there was interest there. I was told by someone that he had interest too, but I guess he didn't want to. I'd have loved to see him hit another ball out of the park there. Kinda a big miss there too.
This one wasn't surprising to me, I figured Ohtani wouldn't do the derby again. I don't know why I felt that way, but I just did. Maybe it's because he is on such a run right now, he's untouchable on the diamond and he's pissing on the ball. Maybe he just doesn't want to mess anything up, so I wasn't shocked when he said no. Can't be too upset with his decision though. But like how do we not get Austin Riley? Yordan getting hurt killed his chances, I'd have loved to see Byron Buxton in there too. But I can't be upset with who we have.
Overall an awesome field and some misses but there are still a ton of fun guys who will hit miles and miles of homers. For the most part I think this will be chalk, I think we get our two big NL East sluggers going to the finals with Alonso getting his third Derby win.