Giancarlo Stanton produced an awesome display of power hitting to win the Home Run Derby on Monday night – a performance that caused a sheepish Miami Marlins organization to renege on a ticket offer linked to his hitting heroics.
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The finals came down to the Marlins’ Stanton, who was invited though he’s not an All-Star, and defending champion Todd Frazier of the White Sox, who won previous year as a Red. The longest hit ball of the night was Stanton’s 497 feet, a mark he hit twice.
As for Stanton, he came into the All-Star break with 20 home runs on the season through 76 games, but didn’t qualify for the actual All-Star game.
But fans who clicked on the link for the original promotion thought that the discount would correlate to the total amount of home runs Stanton hit in the Derby and apply to the remaining home games.
Stanton continued to smash the ball to left and center field, knocking two past the scoreboard and out of sight behind the left field bleachers.
Stanton hit 24 homers in the first round to eliminate the Seattle Mariners’ Robinson Cano (seven) and 17 in the semifinals to knock out Mark Trumbo (14) of the Baltimore Orioles. Trumbo defeated Corey Seager of the Los Angeles Dodgers 16-15, although Trumbo did not need the 30-second bonus round.
Stanton put on an unprecedented show on the way to defeating defending champion Todd Frazier in the finals, 20-13.
If we learned anything from last year’s MLB All-Star festivities, its that neither the Futures Game nor the All-Star Game itself comes close to matching the drama and excitement of baseball’s annual Home Run Derby.
But Stanton made up for lost time, turning one of the most cavernous ballparks in the big leagues into a cramped back yard. Over the Derby’s three rounds he totaled 61 homers, with 64% them (39) traveling over 440 feet.
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Both finalists, Stanton and Frazier, aren’t on the All-Star game rosters. “But most the time I stuck at 80-90%”. None of the 15 home runs hit by Duvall topped 435 feet in the semifinals. The Marlins recently hired Home Run King Barry Bonds as their hitting coach and it was a genius move. He’ll defend his title as a member of the White Sox. Duvall beat Padres first baseman Wil Myers 11-10 in the first round.
