Table of Content
- Vlad Jr. turns down Home Run Derby invite to protect wrist
- How a rebuilt Ryu reinvented himself to become MLB's most dominant pitcher3yAlden Gonzalez
- Sorry, Pete Alonso, but Vlad Guerrero Jr. was the Home Run Derby peoples' champ
- Top Leagues
- This Week In … Vladimir Guerrero Jr.!
- Blue Jays Trade Gabriel Moreno, Lourdes Gurriel for Young Outfielder
It was a tough task and Guerrero was clearly drained, but he hit 22 homers anyway to bring his total for the entire Derby to an absurd 91. Some fans were surprised that baseball's mega prospect was asked to be in the Home Run Derby. He might be an elite prospect, but he's only hit eight homers since being called up. Here's the thing, though -- he has both the family genes for this kind of event, and he put in the work to crank out a special performance. Guerrero and Pederson’s multiple ties were the highlights of the night, but that’s what almost certainly sunk him and sapped him of his energy in the final round.
Robert Ivory wore Vlad Sr.’s Montreal Expos jersey, carried a cutout of Vlad Jr.’s head. He’s a big enough fan of Vlad Sr. that he went to his Hall of Fame induction ceremony. He likes the Indians too — this is Cleveland after all — but he grew up in the era where so many baseball fans were in awe of free-swinging Vlad Guerrero. And now we’re all in awe of his baseball-bashing 20-year-old son. Round after round, Guerrero was hitting lasers into the left field bleachers, most of them landing in the two sections of seats under the left side of Progressive Field’s scoreboard. They started booing Joc Pederson as he pushed Vlad Jr. to all those tiebreakers.
Vlad Jr. turns down Home Run Derby invite to protect wrist
"My wrist is fine right now but I've got to be careful," The 2021 AL MVP runner-up said Monday through his interpreter, according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. "There are too many swings in a home run derby. I don't want to take a chance that my wrist gets hurt again and it gets bad and I won't be able to help my team win, which is what we're trying to do here. I don't want to risk it." Once Pederson matched Guerrero Jr. again in the second tiebreaker, the pair went to a three-swing swing-off, which initially had both sluggers finishing with just one home run on their three swings. In the third tiebreaker, Guerrero Jr. homered on two of his next three swings, which led to some “Let’s go, Vladdy! Saying Guerrero started strong is like saying “he’s got power” — it’s such a huge understatement when compared to reality. He hit 29 homers in the first round, breaking Josh Hamilton’s 2008 record of 28 in a single round.
With the massive spike in home runs this year, there's no shortage of worthy sluggers to take part in this year's derby. The Atlanta Braves' Ronald Acuna Jr. did his best Ken Griffey Jr. impression by blowing bubbles in his gum while using all fields to open with 24 homers. "I have the utmost respect for the people that put their lives on the line every single day -- and I just wanna show my gratitude, because a bad day for me is a lot different than a bad day for the servicemen and women that serve this country," Alonso said. The New York Mets' Pete Alonso won a battle of rookies to outslug the Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and win the Home Run Derby at Progressive Field in Cleveland on Monday night. Makes you wonder if one day Vlad Jr. can break 100 homers in a single Derby.
How a rebuilt Ryu reinvented himself to become MLB's most dominant pitcher3yAlden Gonzalez
His average home run distance was 421.5 feet and the average exit velocity was 104.8 mph. Pederson responded with just one home run, allowing Guerrero Jr. to advance to the Derby final after a historic battle. Still, Guerrero's overall record of 91 in a Derby is what so many people are going to remember from this show.
Just your standard data entry, and I only had to come in three days a week. But -- shockingly -- I can't say it went as well as the summer of 20-year-old Vladimir Guerrero Jr. From 1990 through the turn of the millennium, Palmeiro was one of the best hitters in the majors.
Sorry, Pete Alonso, but Vlad Guerrero Jr. was the Home Run Derby peoples' champ
And when he tells those stories in the future, maybe he’ll include the footnote that Vlad Jr. didn’t actually win the Home Run Derby that night. But that will come after the 91 homers, after the amazing tiebreaker rounds when he wouldn’t die, after he recounts the the excitement of the performance that blew the mind of every baseball fan watching. Pederson's matching Guerrero's 29 home runs to force the minute-long overtime was a tad surprising, and his following Guerrero's eight home runs with eight of his own was perhaps even more so. Pederson was taking the volume approach, swinging 84 times to Guerrero's 73 in those five-and-a-half minutes.
It’s also a bizarre one on its face, as Strop and Puig don’t have any kind of history. Nonetheless, the two got into it Saturday at Great American Ball Park after Strop plunked Puig with a 3–0 pitch in the bottom of the eighth. Puig slowly ambled toward the mound saying some angry things, leading to benches clearing but nothing more.
Top Leagues
While Guerrero didn't win the 2019 derby, he certainly stole the show in Cleveland, hitting 91 home runs, the most of any player. Unfortunately for Toronto, New York Mets' first baseman Pete Alonso eeked by Guerrero with 23 home runs in the final round of the derby to claim the crown. Pederson, who lost in the final as a rookie in 2015, now has the most combined home runs at the Derby all time, with 99, while Guerrero -- in his first appearance -- tied the previous record of 91 held by Todd Frazier, who also competed twice. With the win came a cool $1 million bonus to supplement Alonso's base salary of $555,000. He said he would donate 10% of his winnings between two charities, the Wounded Warriors Project and the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Guerrero broke the Derby's single-round record in each of the first two rounds, but after surviving an exhausting duel with Joc Pederson of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the semifinal round, Guerrero didn't have enough to beat Alonso in the final.
That fell just short of Alonso, who needed 45 seconds to hit his first homer and labored his way to hit his 14th with one second left before his 30-second bonus would have kicked in. Guerrero's most impressive stretch of the night came in the middle of the second round. In a 2-minute, 1-second window, he swung at 25 pitches and homered on 19 of them. It was reminiscent of Hamilton, who, in a previous format that didn't pit players head-to-head, homered 28 times on 38 swings. It didn’t live up to the Guerrero-Pederson second round tie-stravaganza, and the extra work Guerrero had to put in to beat Pederson is likely why. Alonso, who was booed by the crowd when he was introduced for the final, hit 23 with over a minute left on the clock.
It's unclear who else MLB has reached out to about populating this year's field. Our own Matt Snyder provided his dream bracket on Monday. Of the 29 home runs hit in the first round, Vlad Jr. finished with five home runs over 450 feet and eight over 440 feet.
After one night, he has the second-most home runs in Derby history -- and nearly five times as many as his father, the Hall of Fame outfielder who won the 2007 Derby. It's the most succinct summation of what took place on Monday at Progressive Field. Guerrero started the day with eight career major league home runs and questions about whether he belonged in the field when 181 big leaguers have hit more homers than he has this season.
The biggest drama of the night came in the semifinal round, when he needed three tiebreakers to eliminate Pederson 40-39. "Oh my God,” Pete Alonso said about Vlad Jr. after his win. “He was so fun to watch. I'm glad I didn't face him in the earlier rounds. Or he probably would have knocked me out." It more than validated Major League Baseball's choice to invite Guerrero, who entered the season as the most well-regarded hitting prospect in years.
Cleared payment cleared payment - opens in a new window or tab. Guerrero laughed as they embraced at home plate following Pederson's final swing. Even if he wouldn't go on to win, he had won by surviving. Guerrero partook in the 2019 Home Run Derby as a rookie and hit a record 91 home runs over the duration of the event while finishing second.
Pete Alonso dramatically defeats Vlad Guerrero, Jr. in 2019 Home Run Derby
This was Vlad Jr. in all of his tater-mashing glory, announcing his presence on the big stage, living up to his famous father’s name, easily winning over the local crowd and no doubt selling a few more No. 27 Toronto Blue Jays jerseys in the process. Estimated delivery dates - opens in a new window or tab include seller's handling time, origin ZIP Code, destination ZIP Code and time of acceptance and will depend on shipping service selected and receipt of cleared payment. Delivery times may vary, especially during peak periods. "I think is something that I'm going to have to for the rest of my career, so I just want to make sure that I keep doing all my exercises and everything that I have to do to keep it healthy," Guerrero told Davidi.
Carlos Santana, representing Cleveland, delighted the crowd but hit just 13 homers. Pete Alonso managed to beat that just as the clock was winding down, but he heard boos as he beat the hometown hero. “Survive and advance” was Alonso’s mantra throughout the night, and it served him well. With Guerrero going first and Pederson following, both sluggers finished with a round-record 29 home runs in the four-minute time limit, plus the 30-second bonus time for sending two balls more than 440 feet. Both then hit eight more in a one-minute tiebreaker round. In the first round, Vlad Jr. hit 29 homers, breaking the record for most in a single round.
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