No Judge or Stanton? Too bad.

The winner of Schwarber-Pujols

shorter version: "Schwarber"

Had a slip and fall? Contact the Law Firm of Schwarber, Pujols, Soto and Ramirez!

I think every year they should include one random wildcard choice to go first and show how the rules work. Someone like a pitcher who could hit bombs in high school but gave up that part of his game, or a utility infielder guy with 22 career HR. It would put the guys that can hit in perspective and show just exactly how freaking amazing this is even when the ball is laid in there, plus if the guy was personable it could be very entertaining. Consider Brett Phillips as the pace car hitter, for example. He's slugging about .240 now but he'd be fun to listen to all micced up and hitting bombs to deep third.

Never thought I'd say this but the NCAA men's basketball committee could have seeded better than this.

Pete Alonso, the two-time defending champ, deserved to be the 1 seed.

I have to assume Judge opted out, because otherwise his omission makes no sense on any grounds.

I have to assume Judge opted out, because otherwise his omission makes no sense on any grounds.

I think Albert volunteering so early for this screwed things up. Once it became public that he offered, MLB had almost no choice other than to include him.

If I didn't know better, I'd say the fix was in for the NL. 6 of the top 7 in AB/HR are in the AL ... and none of them are in the derby. The AL has 5 of the top 6 in avg EV, including the only 3 at 95+, and none of them are here. Acuna does lead in avg HR distance ... but looking at that list, that doesn't seem like a good indicator of power (which seems odd, partly a small sample thing I think).

Anyway, a 2022 HR derby without Judge, Stanton and Alvarez is like a slam dunk contest with Jordan, Dr J and Muggsy (or was that Spud?) potentially available but sitting on the sidelines.

Granted, I'm sure Cashman has nightmares about the headlines should Judge or Stanton get hurt doing this.

I guess you guys don't pay much attention to this, but players opt out of this all the time. Judge wasn't in it last year either. Alvarez and Trout and Ohtani are also passing this year (Ohtani was in it last year), and I'm sure MLB would love to have them.

Walt's dunk contest analogy is spot on, because Jordan stopped showing up at them after 1988.

I think we all know that they drop out all the time, I certainly did. But this is a list really lacking in current star power. Seager is pounding them out this year but his career high is 26 (26!) back in 2016. Acuna did hit 41 back in 2019 but has just 8 so far this year. Rodriguez looks like a future start but 15 HRs at the break ... Sosa had 20 in June 1998. Schwarber currently leads but Alonso (2019) and Pujols (whenever) are the only other guys here who ever led the league. No Guerrero, no Ohtani, no Trout. This is far from a list of the best HR hitters in MLB.

If you're gonna keep this thing going, let's at least open it up to guys not on the AS team. That's what the NBA did with the slam dunk contest didn't it? Hoping to make stars of anonymous young guys? Patrick Wisdom doesn't hit the ball too often but he hits rockets when he does, let's get him bombing away. What is the point of Jorge Soler or Joey Gallo other than to put on a show in BP? The star power would go down (not a good thing) but the booming HRs would go up.

Anyway, hopefully Albert doesn't embarrass himself.

Julio Rodriguez is my “dark horse” candidate to win this (and screw up his swing for the next three weeks). He has the bat speed and the EV, and he’s faced the slowest minor league fastballs most recently.

The winner of Schwarber-Pujols

shorter version: "Schwarber"

Pujols might still be able to get around on batting-practice velocity balls and make it competitive.

Pujols might still be able to get around on batting-practice velocity balls and make it competitive.

If I'm a betting man, I would say no, at least not consistently enough to reach 5+ hr in any round.

I guess you guys don't pay much attention to this, but players opt out of this all the time. Judge wasn't in it last year either. Alvarez and Trout and Ohtani are also passing this year (Ohtani was in it last year), and I'm sure MLB would love to have them.

Maybe it's just time to retire this overhyped dog-and-pony show.

to be fair, when it started it probably was the most boring shtick I ever saw.

take after take after take, and the damn thing went on for hours and hours (though not on my TV screen).

I think they upgraded it to "terrible," and then they improved it again to "borderline watchable, if you have a soft border."

modest props for recognizing what a dreadful product they had and doing something about it.

I was one of the people who complained about this, and then they came up with new rules, and I complained even more, then I watched it the new rules in action and loved it. It's about the only real exhibition event for baseball that doesn't seem like it's going to lead to an injury. Anything that you can think of as a fielding prowess contest, seems like it's almost guaranteed to end up with a torn hamstring, and a fastest pitch contest is obviously rife with potential injuries.

I think they can do the actual seeding or contest rules different, but the pace is pretty good and works. I like the concept of a skills competition, but the only real three skills that I think they can show off would be hr derby, bat control (where the get points by calling their shots on where the ball is going to land) and maybe a bunting competition, and I'm not sure that last one is anything that someone would think would make good tv. Beyond that everything else that feels like it could be an interesting skills competition, really does feel like a gateway to a catastrophic injury.

Pete Alonso, the two-time defending champ, deserved to be the 1 seed.

The seeding was based on the number of HRs this season at the time of the announcement.

Albert would be a 91st seed in NL based on current stats.

Albert would be a 91st seed in NL based on current stats.

Don't give the NCAA ideas.

The "most watchable" product? How about last year's HR leader in each league, this year's leader in each league. Just 2 rounds. If last year's leader is leading this year, he goes straight to the final. Want to add some COF magic, put in the two top career leaders and add a WC round. All negotiated and part of the CBA of course, replacements allowed only if the player is on the IL (or other legit absences).

Also Ohtani is always in but he gets to pitch and hit which has the added advantage that he's virtually guaranteed to win every year.

EDIT: I suppose this year, Ohtani would get to hit off of fellow 2-way player Albert. :-)

Winner gets $1M, runner-up $500K, and other participants $150K, with the player with longest HR earning an extra $100K. Seems a bit low for a night of prime-time TV with lots of natural breaks for commercials.

I was one of the people who complained about this, and then they came up with new rules, and I complained even more, then I watched it the new rules in action and loved it.

I agree with this. The derby is much more fun than the All-Star game at this point. For one thing, the players are actually trying to win, and they're clearly having a lot of fun. The pacing is good, and there's a lot of action. I had the good fortune to attend in person last year, which was even more entertaining than I expected.

The "most watchable" product? How about last year's HR leader in each league, this year's leader in each league. Just 2 rounds. If last year's leader is leading this year, he goes straight to the final.

So you want to force players who don't want to be there to show up, and you want an event that lasts about 45 minutes.

If you're gonna keep this thing going, let's at least open it up to guys not on the AS team.

They did this last year, with Trevor Story representing the hometown team even though he wasn't on the All-Star team. That seems like a good way to handle it - if Betts doesn't want to participate, let Freddie Freeman or Will Smith or someone be there for the Dodger fans.

So you want to force players who don't want to be there to show up, and you want an event that lasts about 45 minutes.

(1) I don't want it at all. I have no objection to its existence but I'm sure I haven't watched one since 2004 and maybe not since whatever year Bonds won it. My memory is that whoever he was up against in the final flopped so Bonds didn't need many to win but the 7 (or whatever) that he hit were so perfect that it seemed like he'd probably have hit about 50 if they'd let him keep going.

(2) Did you not see the part about MLBPA agreement? Not "forced" to participate, "agreed" to participate. If players care enough, the union doesn't agree. If the union agrees, who am I to complain? Don't want to be there? Then don't lead the league in HRs. :-) Simply, the point for both MLB and MLBPA is to draw as many eyeballs as possible, provide as much entertainment as possible, provide as many highlights as possible. Therefore you want the "best" HR hitters in a contest you sell as determining who the "best" HR hitter is ... not the 8 guys you could get to agree to it for the sole purpose of filling up TV time. Heck you want a full three rounds, add the (current, last year's) rookie HR leader to help promote the young guys.

If the top sluggers don't care about the HR derby, why would fans want to watch a contest among the 8 guys who care?

(2a) I would "allow" the COFs to decline participation. I have no interest in a 40+ former star embarrassing themself. Let them pick the player to take their place.

(3) Yes, about 45 minutes of "action" ... conceivably 1 hour of TV, more likely added "pre-game" "post-game", "in-game" interviews and "celebrity" cameos to pad it out to 90-120 minutes cuz that's how TV does everything.

(4) I gave up on the NBA slam dunk once guys who were great players and great "innovators" stopped showing up. Once it became "this guy's not a very good player, a bench player maybe but he's got ups and loves to twirl in the air and has been working on this KILLER dunk all year," I'd rather watch world-class figure skating. Along those lines I have no interest in skateboarding or those various snowboarding/skiing events that don't involve avoiding thin poles at high speed. (Except ski jumping of course cuz that's just insane!)

(5) But, y'know, kids these days with their gnarly lingo and their exit velocity.

The only "fun" part of watching this used to be listening to the announcers (Chris Berman?) pretend to get excited by every home run. Like the idea of the ball going into the stands was somehow unexpected.

have to assume Judge opted out,

He announced he wouldn't participate in any more HR derbies unless they were in Yankee Stadium.

Seriously.

TA is all sorts of dumb. Not to contradict you, but the article said that he would consider it if the HRD came back to NY, not NYS.

The dumb part says that Judge may not be a Yankee the next time the ASG is in NY. Of course he will.

Pujols had 20 home runs in his first round upset win over Schwarber, and 15 in his second round loss to Soto. So, I was right (for once) and he can still mash batting practice speed balls.