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HOME RUN DERBY: PICKS AND PREDICTIONS
No Power Rankings this week, as I wanted to do some All-Star Week content, since it only comes around once a year, so why not? The Home Run Derby is tonight at 6 PM CST, and there are some new rules.
Rather than there being predetermined seeds and matchups for round 1, everyone is on an even playing field. Years in the past, the player with the most homers participating would be the no. 1 seed, and the player with the 2nd most, would be the no. 2 seed, and so on. Instead, every player is going to hit a full round, not against anyone in particular, Instead, the players with the 4 most homers in the first round will move on, and then it proceeds like normal, with seeds in the semi-finals and then the finals. With the new format, who will prevail?
Now I am going to be a little bit honest here and say, that this isn't the greatest batch of Derby contestants. Not to say any of them are bad, but hardly any of them scream huge slugger. Alonso is at a point where it might be time for him to be done participating, and free up that spot for another slugger in the MLB. I'm also a little stumped by the Alec Bohm pick. He's always been a contact over power guy, so to see him in the Derby is a bit weird. Regardless, I still look forward to the Derby and hope for a great show.
The players I predict that will be in the Finals against eachother, will be: Bobby Witt Jr and Gunnar Henderson. It just makes too much sense. They are the best hitters participating in the Derby. There has been a little bit of a friendly feud between the two, on who the better SS is, as they are clearly the top 2, but they are both playing at such a high level, it would be peak television. However, Witt Jr has won a futures game derby, and I think the kid from Texas is going to win the Derby tonight. My official predictions are below:
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Rece Hinds
STATS:
.423 / .464 / 1.192
1.657 OPS
341 wRC+
5 HR
9 XBH
9 RBI
1.1 WAR
Hinds is the player of the week. Not the Rookie of the week, the player of the week, simply because he had a better offensive week than pretty much any other hitter this week, and was highly dangerous at the plate. Oh, and it was his first week in the bigs and had 9 extra base-hits, including his 5 homers, that were absolute tank jobs going WELL past 410 feet.
Colt Keith
STATS:
.364 / .500 / .773
1.273 OPS
247 wRC+
2 HR
9 R
8 RBI
0.6 WAR
Keith is your rookie of the week, as his breakout may finally be here. The scary thing about Colt Keith is that he can slug way more than he did this past week, and he can become a dominant infielder for the Tigers. Only had 2 homers on the week, but one of them was a walk-off shot at home, but getting on base every other at bat is pretty dang good to me.
Blake Snell
STATS:
12 IP
11 K
2 H
0 ER
3 BB
0.4 WAR
And this is why Scott Boras is bad for baseball. This dude didn't get signed until right before the season, which threw him off his game. Snell has been struggling hard this year, and has had stints on the IL, but he had 2 starts this week that were absolutley phenomenal. Went 5 scoreless against Toronto, only allowing 3 baserunners, then flirted with a perfect game through 7 against Minnesota. The strikeout numbers weren't quite what you expect out of snell, but the allowed earned runs definitely is.
Remembering the Insane 15 Inning All-Star Game in 2008
Some of my readers may not be old enough to remember this game, and some of you do. Regardless, this goes down as one of the wildest, all star games in any proffesional sport.
The game took place at old Yankee Stadium, which makes it cool in that sense alone, that they were able to get a great send-off to a legendary stadium. The starting lineups for the two squads was full of HoFers, and your usual All-Stars that make you say "I didn't know he was an All-Star". The Starting Lineups were as such:
Now as I previously stated, this game went an absurd 15 innings. Because of this game, a new rule was added to the MLB All-Star Game, that extra innings would simply default to a Home-Run Derby, making this game a true relic of the past. The game started out as a simple, typical All-Star game, as they usually start relatively slow, as the pitchers tend to set the tone early on. The first scoring would be by the NL, a leadoff Home Run by Matt Holliday in the 5th inning, and then Lance Berkman with a Sac Fly in the 6th. However, the AL would respond with their own Home Run, this time a two run shot with two outs by JD. Drew, to tie the game up at 2-2. Both teams would notch a run in the 8th, and then there wasn't a run scored until the bottom of the 15th on a sac fly by Michael Young. The game lasted an insane 4 hours and 50 minutes.
The game broke obvious records for length and innings, but it also broke Most combined strikeouts (34), stolen bases (7), runners left on base (28), pitchers (23) and players (63) in a Mid-Summer Classic. Dan Uggla of the Florida Marlins set an All-Star Game record by committing the most errors (3). He is the first MLB player ever to have 3 strikeouts, 3 errors, and ground into a double play in a single game. This includes any regular season, postseason, and All-Star Games. There will never be another All-Star game quite like it.
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