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Held on Monday, July 18, 2022 at Dodger StadiumThe participants and seedings for the 2022 Home Run Derby were announced on July 14th. Notable absences included those of New York Yankees sluggers Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. The first round battle between Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani was an epic one, requiring two tiebreakers, with Soto connecting on all three of his swings in the second of the tiebreakers. He faced dark horse Trey Mancini in the final round, whose presence there was already a triumph after his overcoming cancer. But Mancini was not going to roll over before the Alonso steamroller as he blasted a very impressive 22 long balls in the final round. Still, it was not enough, as Alonso seemed to top him effortlessly, blasting five consecutive balls into the depths of Coors Field in the bonus round to defend his title in very impressive style.
The likelihood, in percent, that an outfielder will be able to make a catch on an individual batted ball. Youth was served in the end as Juan Soto beat out the rookie Rodríguez in the final round, after Rodríguez had upset two-time defending champion Alonso in the semi-final round. At 23, Soto was the second-youngest winner, baredly one day older than Juan Gonzalez had been in 1993, while Rodríguez was just 21. Held on Monday, July 9, 2012 at Kauffman StadiumPlayerTeamFirst RoundSemifinalsFinalsTotalPrince FielderDetroit Tigers Jose BautistaToronto Blue Jays Mark TrumboLos Angeles Angels of Anaheim76 -13Carlos BeltranSt. Cellular FieldPlayerTeamFirst RoundSemifinalsFinalsTotalGarret AndersonAnaheim Angels76922Albert PujolsSt.
Everything you need to know about the Home Run Derby
The 2007 and 2008 editions of the golden ball were sponsored by State Farm Insurance. They pledged $17,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs across the country for every home run hit with 9 outs. The 17,000 supposedly represents the number of State Farm Agents across the country. The format of the competition has changed regularly, as MLB tried to maximize excitement and encourage its top sluggers to take part. As a result, it is not really possible to compare results across eras.
From 1989 to 1994, there were eight players invited, four from each league. Dawson went deep four times, accounting for half the home runs hit by the field of four. McGwire, who would eventually set a new single-season home run record with 70 in 1998, won his first and only Derby in '92.
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He's the only National League player with more than 20 homers so far this season and is third with a .554 slugging percentage. Stanton’s power numbers dropped slightly after the derby last year, albeit in 33 fewer games thanks to a season-ending injury. Stanton had a strong July before slumping in August and getting hurt. His slugging percentage and OPS stayed fairly consistent throughout the season, though lower than his career stats. This year's Home Run Derby will feature eight players, six of whom have hit double-digit homers in the first half.
Céspedes hit a total of 32 home runs in last year’s Home Run Derby, which was eight more than any other contestant. He has a .966 slugging percentage and 11 home runs in 59 at-bats there. A case where the champion is also the most impressive all-around performance. Yoenis Cespedes kept building momentum through the rounds before exploding with an impressive final round that included nine home runs to defend is Home Run Derby title. When Yankee youngsters Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez both announced their participation in the 2017 Home Run Derby, there was a split reaction among fans.
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The 2014 Home Run Derby field looked stacked on paper, but some players quickly found out that it's not easy to turn on the power button. His slugging percentage dropped almost 200 points and his OPS dropped over 200 points. Not only that, his batting average sat below the Mendoza line and he hit just 6 home runs across 62 games. Most people probably forget that Todd Frazier has been in the finals of the last three derbies.
This year's competition shook up the rule book with players posting the highest totals across Rounds 1 and 2 advancing to the finals, rather than resetting the tally each round like in previous years. At the end of regulation, Griffey and Juan Gonzalez both had seven homers, forcing an extra round. Gonzalez eventually won in a sudden-death swing-off, but it was Griffey who authored the iconic moment. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the players who ranked first, second and third in average home run distance hold the same spots in exit velocity . This stat helps tell you more about a player's bat speed and how quickly he gets through the zone.
Bautista's first round consisted of 10 homers, the single most of any round by any player in this year's event. To be fair, Stanton's monster blast didn't actually travel 510 feet but was projected to go that far if there was no upper deck at Target Field. The ball landed "just" 422 feet, which is shorter than he usually hits homers this year. Dave Parker won the first Home Run Derby in 1985, and since then many of the winners have been the biggest stars in baseball.
Louis Cardinals414826Jason GiambiNew York Yankees Jim EdmondsSt. In 2005, as part of the announcement of the inaugural World Baseball Classic, the derby featured eight players representing their native countries rather than their respective leagues. The nations represented were Canada, the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, Panama, Puerto Rico, South Korea, the United States and Venezuela.
The participants with the second and third most home runs from each league will face each other to determine the second semifinalist. The semifinal winners from each league competed in the finals to determine the Home Run Derby champion. The batting order for the finals was determined by a coin flip. The flex ball, replacing the golden ball from past years, came into play after 6 outs. A home run hit off of a flex ball resulted in a $10,000 donation to charity by Gillette and MLB.
The two players with the next-most home runs go head-to-head in the second round. The head-to-head winners will face their league's top seed in the third round, with the winners from each league going against each other in the final round. It’s a small sample size but only Cespedes saw any improvement after the Home Run Derby. The rest of the derby finalists had downturns, ranging from slight to significant. The truth is, whether or not his swing is affected, it’s unlikely Aaron Judge performs at his current level for the rest of the season.
Batters will be awarded 30 seconds of bonus time for two home runs that each equal or exceed 440 feet. Held on Monday, July 8, 2019 at Progressive FieldThe participants were announced on July 3rd, although six of the names were already public by that point . Christian Yelich, the major league home run leader, withdrew at the last-minute and was replaced by Matt Chapman. The format of the derby was changed in 2000 when, after the first round, the four advancing players were put into two seeded brackets, with the winners of each match-up advancing to the finals. Even if the rest of the field wasn't up to par, seeing Giancarlo Stanton's name in a home run exhibition is enough to pay for a ticket.
The only right-handed hitter to win in the last six Derby's is last year’s winner, Yoenis Céspedes of the Oakland Athletics. Dozier will be trying to join Ryne Sandberg as the only players to win the Home Run Derby in their home ballpark. A player’s home run park percentage is the percentage of stadiums at which a home run would have gone over the fence under calm conditions . Of the 31 players to hit at least 15 home runs in the first half, Bautista has the highest home run park percentage, 94.7 percent . Too often we see players go all out in the first round, leaving them with little energy in the subsequent rounds, so someone else swoops in to steal their title. We call this "Josh Hamilton Syndrome" after the former MVP hit 28 homers in the first round of the 2008 Home Run Derby but hit just seven the next two rounds combined.
When you read a scouting report that says "the ball sounds different coming off his bat" or "the ball jumps off his bat," that's mostly a product of bat speed. There's also natural power involved, but getting the barrel through the zone is important. Dozier would seem to have an advantage as the hometown guy, but his power spike this year and low average distance suggests that he will be the low man on the totem pole.
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