We all dig the long ball, right? Yes, we do. And there isn’t much better than watching the best baseball players in the world try to hit a baseball 14 nautical miles. With the All-Star festivities taking place in Denver this year that might actually be possible, too.
At 8pm ET on ESPN there will be eight participants, including reigning champ Pete Alonso, trying to outslug and outlast the competition. There will be four matchups to begin things:
- Shohei Ohtani vs 8. Juan Soto
- Joey Gallo vs 7. Trevor Story
- Matt Olson vs 6. Trey Mancini
- Salvador Perez vs 5. Pete Alonso
The higher seed will go second in each round. Each player gets three minutes per round in the 1st and 2nd rounds, and the finals will be a round of two minutes. A player can get an addition 30 seconds at the end of their round if they hit a ball 475+ feet during the round.
Winning the home run derby can pay, and pay quite well. There’s $2,500,000 in prize money and the winner gets $1,000,000. That’s more money than Pete Alonso makes this year playing for the Mets.
All-Star Game Notes
The starting lineups have been announced and Jesse Winker and Nick Castellanos are hitting back-to-back for the National League squad. Castellanos will be starting in right field and batting 5th. Winker will follow and start in left field.
Shohei Ohtani is starting the game for the American League as a pitcher AND as the designated hitter. Major League Baseball is changing the rules for the game to allow Ohtani to remain in the game as the designated hitter even once he is removed as a pitcher. Good. Great. Perfect.
Reds Draft Notes
Today was the second day of the draft and the Reds made nine picks between rounds two and ten this afternoon. If you want information on all of the selections, I’ve got you covered over at RedsMinorLeagues.com.
Already put my money on the Resurection of Babe Ruth. Glad to get to watch him, glad that there are no Reds in there. Dont want their seings to get messed up
Swings- correction
Ruth couldn’t carry Ohtani’s shoelaces.
I think in the end, you may be correct Doug.
Depends on the perspective. Ohtani isn’t hitting more HRs then the collective totals of other teams. Thats a Ruthian feat that nobody did in any sport before or since. At the same time, mlb was not exactly inclusive back then. I’m surprised they let Hank Greenberg play
The perspective is that Shohei Ohtani is better.
Well when he hits more HRs then the total HRs of 15 teams then let me know.
When Ruth plays against guys that don’t work at the grocery store in the offseason who are also only white, let me know.
Ohtani > Ruth.
Ohtani is unbelievable! I was stationed in Okinawa and I never met a Japanese my height (6’1) in 3 months. I don’t know how he pulled off 6’4?
He has to be maturing and getting better here? Otherwise he would’ve been pulling off Ruth type stuff in the Japanese league. 20 is alot in Korea. Not sure about Japan, but parks are smaller. I can’t even visualize Ohtani in a league of little guys throwing 88 in little parks?
An interesting and–in the absence of a time machine– unresolvable argument. In Ruth’s era, baseball was–easily–the most popular sport and, boxing possibly aside, the most lucrative for aspiring athletes. This is far from true today, when baseball competes with a number of other equally (or more) popular and lucrative sports for talent. There were only 16 MLB teams. These factors mitigate, to some unknown extent, the unforgivable whiteness of the game then. Indy’s point is salient, too: An athlete of any era who greatly exceeds the performances of his contemporaries has to be viewed as special. The players then–and now–were great athletes. Many of them did play baseball in some way in the off-season but, yes, many needed to work at other jobs–jobs that were often very physically demanding and promoted stamina and overall fitness. Is it possible that modern off-season training regimens have something to do with the large number of injuries? It’s my belief that a good player of either era, transported to the other in our time machine, would, after a period of adjustment, be a good player in that era, as well.
If they were transported as babies, sure. As adults they’d poop their pants from that far back because they simply wouldn’t be able to compete, athletically. That’s not their fault – we just know so many things now that we didn’t then when it comes to nutrition and training.
The 16 teams thing doesn’t work for me, though. Yeah, there were fewer teams. But the population was significantly lower in this country where they were already only picking white guys. Toss in that they are now selecting from a pool of literally everyone on the planet and it far outweighs the population/team issues from 1920.
I can’t say I agree, Doug. But we’re both expressing opinions. I watched a lot of ball in the 50’s, and may be affected by nostalgia. You may be affected by recency bias. 100 years is not nearly enough time for any significant evolutionary change,. A computer simulation showed that Jesse Owens–on a modern track with modern shoes–would be as fast as Usain Bolt. We’re both speculating, and speculating is what fandom is largely about.
It doesn’t seem so long ago (2015) that Todd Frazier won the Home Run Derby at the GABP All Star game. Then the anemic Reds offense lasted for a number of years until the pandemic hit. Look at it now, led by Castellanos, Winker and others. Quite a turnaround.
I’m both happy and sad that Winker and Castellanos isn’t in he HR Derby
They need to find a better way to show these home runs. We watch to see how far the ball goes.
+10000
instead of a time limit how about a pitch limit so we can watch where every majestic homerun lands. I also like watching the kids try to catch these balls. it nearly knocks them off their feet. proves how hard it is to be a major league outfielder
Meh.
I’ve been far more of a Bell defender then basher this year, BUT, having AG pitch to Sal Perez with 1B open was the dumbest thing Bell has done all year. Especially with Carlos Santana on deck who’s horrible right-handed. Oh well. Nobody is perfect
Sal Perez 1.200 ops vs lefties
Whats the difference between the two different set off balls
and 50 percent of the viewership quit watching…. he was good though… wonder what kind of package would get him to the reds
Maybe Greene, Lodolo, and India?
These guys are tired. Can’t say I don’t get it.
All I can say is, I’m glad neither Winker nor Castellanos took part in this. Get some rest in and get ready for the second half.
Me too. And just my own take: Many people complain about baseball being boring. But the home run derby, in my estimation, is THE most over-hyped, boring event on the planet. I tried to watch it last night but couldn’t. I lost interested after the first couple of contestants and started watching Law & Order reruns instead. I am much more engaged, intrigued, curious, and stimulated by actual game action. Home runs in the context of a game = exciting. “Home runs” in the context of the derby = snooze.
+1000