Big bats take aim at derby’s $1 million
CLEVELAND — Jim Thome holds the record for the longest home run in Progressive Field history, a 511-foot shot against Kansas City in 1999. Two years earlier, the Hall of Fame slugger recorded a more dubious mark during the All-Star Home Run Derby.
“I didn’t hit one,” Thome said sheepishly.
It’s a safe bet that none of the eight participants in this year’s field — which no longer includes Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich, the majors’ home run leader — will get blanked tonight as some of baseball’s biggest bats swing for the
fences while vying for $1 million, the richest winning prize in the popular event’s 34-year history.
The players will take aim at the downtown ballpark’s towering left-field bleachers, which Mark McGwire cleared with a mammoth blast in 1997 that dented a giant Budweiser billboard. There’s a pedestrian bridge down the line that could see some action, and if the wind is blowing just so to right-center, it could give Cleveland’s own Carlos Santana an advantage.
One thing is certain: This year’s contestants are taking it very seriously.
Over the past week, Yelich — who withdrew from the competition citing a back injury — Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and several others have been practicing before their games while trying to simulate derby conditions.
On Friday, Yelich got loose by blasting a ball out of Pittsburgh’s PNC Park that splashed in the Allegheny River after smashing the window of a boat.
Maybe that swing took too much out of him. As players in the Futures Game took batting practice Sunday, Major League Baseball announced Yelich is being replaced by Oakland third baseman Matt Chapman.
Yelich has dealt with back issues during the season’s first half. He was voted a starter for Tuesday’s All-Star Game, but it’s unclear whether he’ll play.
Chapman, a first-time All-Star who has 21 home runs, will go head-to-head in the first round against Guerrero, the Blue Jays’ young hitter whose Hall of Fame father won the derby in 2007.
Guerrero, Santana and Chapman will join Pittsburgh’s Josh Bell, Houston’s Alex Bregman, the Dodgers’ Joc Pederson, New York Mets’ rookie Pete Alonso and Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna Jr.
It’s the youngest group in derby history, with Guerrero, 20, the baby bopper and youngest to compete.
He has been working with Blue Jays Coach John Schneider, who knows Vladdy’s sweet spot better than anyone. Schneider threw batting practice to Guerrero for two years in the minor leagues.
Schneider may be a bit biased, but he said he believes Guerrero can win it all.
“He can hit the ball so frigging hard,” Schneider said. “I think his chances are as good as anybody in any park, against anyone. All eight of those guys are dynamic, dynamic hitters. I think it’s going to be fun, but I like his chances.”
Guerrero’s odds improved after the withdrawal of Yelich, who entered Sunday with 31 home runs — just five short of his 2018 MVP season total. The rest of the firstround matchups are Bregman vs. Pederson, Alonso vs. Santana and Bell vs. Acuna.
Las Vegas has installed Bell as a 3-to-1 favorite. He’s a switch hitter and plans to start on the left side before making any adjustments.
The 6-4, 240-pound Bell cuts an imposing figure in the batter’s box. The first baseman certainly looks like a home run champion, and he leads the majors with seven home runs beyond 400 feet.
In preparation, Bell has gotten advice from former Pirates teammate Andrew McCutchen, who only hit four home runs in 2012 and failed to get out of the first round.
“I talked to Cutch about it, and he said just swing at 70% and I should be good,” Bell said. “We always have a couple of home run rounds in batting practice. I haven’t stretched it out to four straight minutes. I’m definitely excited to. It’s something that as a kid I practiced, so hopefully all that hard work pays off.”
While some guys have been getting in extra cuts, Bregman has taken a different approach.
He hasn’t practiced at all. “Because I’m trying to win games here, and I don’t want to take away from our team winning games,” he explained. “I just want to finish out the first half well, and when the All-Star Game happens, it happens.”
That doesn’t mean he’s not going to try his best.
“It will be awesome,” Bregman said. “I think everyone’s pumped because it’s going to be for a million bucks. I think that’s probably the motivation for everybody.”