HR Derby Takeaways:
 

I fought my apathy toward the way these contests had been presented in the past and was pleasantly surprised.

The humidor was not involved- there were actual 'moon-shots'. Let's face it, we would rather view longer drives than wall-scrapers.


The fast-paced format was wonderful!

While Ohtani & Gallo did not face off in the finals as was the hope, Trey Mancini and Pete Alonso more than made up for their absence.

In fact, the lower-seeded hitters one all four of the first round match-ups.

Cancer survivor Trey Mancini outlasted Matt Olson 24-to-23

The Rockies own Trevor Story fought off a last Gallo run : Alonso hit 35 bombs to eliminate Salvador Perez, who was amazing too - with his 28.

The last first round match-up was between Juan Soto and Ohtani. Soto put the number one seed in a position where he had to play catch up, which he did barley in regulation and overtime. Then Soto tightened his grip by acing the three hit swing-off- Ohtani grounding out on his first swing, and thus being eliminated.


Ohtani showed more fatigue than any of the others...hope he has enough stamina for the All-Star Game tonight.


Besides seeing such a large crowd, seeing ALL the players wearing #44 was very special. More than the stinking Braves who STILL don't have his patch on their sleeves.


Anyway, I think this was the best Derby ever!

Fun Fact -

The bat Pete Alonzo used in the HR derby was custom painted for the event, which was cool all by itself. However, during a couple close ups you could see the bat had the DTB logo. DTB is Dove Tail Bats and made in Maine by Paul Lancisi. Paul was my assistant coach when I coached high school baseball years ago. He has a growing list of major league clients.

Agreed! I used to watch it regularly and then lost interest. It was so long and drawn out - it got to be too much. I really liked this format - It kept everything moving and kept excitement high.

Watching Alonso have fun up there as he crushed his way to 2 in a row gave us Mets fans something to be excited about!!!

MLB network said several times that the balls were NOT kept in a humidor to promote long HRs.

I filled out a HR Derby bracket to try and win $$$. I was perfect in the first round so I was excited. But lost both in the second round. I have watched the derby long enough to know that it promotes the guys who have easy line drive swings. Big guys tend to wear out. was real surprised a big guy like Alonso could have the stamina to win it. (again)


Was also happy to see everyone wearing #44. Sad they will not tonight. Hate those pajamas.

Personally I thought it was to fast paced. Batters never really had a chance to set up. Format needs to be so many pitches, period. I like to watch those baby's fly. Not with the current format. You didn't know when the player hit a home run or not.

Yes that is true. Technically they were supposed to wait until the ball landed before pitching again. they all cheated LOL