“That’s why I came here and I’m taking it with me”, Stanton said on the telecast while hoisting his Home Run Derby trophy.
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As usual, Major League Baseball stages it’s Home Run Derby on Monday night, this year from San Diego’s Petco Park – which is considered pitcher-friendly. The Marlins’ slugger launched baseballs all over Petco Park, reaching the roof of the Western Metal Supply Co. easily and almost hitting the scoreboard in left field numerous times.
Two years ago Frazier topped Stanton in the semifinals when Stanton failed to homer in their matchup.
Despite being known as a park designed for pitchers, Petco Park was all about mammoth home runs at the Home Run Derby on Monday night.
Robinson Cano, the ex-Yankee who won the event in Arizona in 2011, managed only seven homers, though it hardly seemed to matter given Stanton’s prodigious exhibition. Fourteen of Stanton’s homers in the first round also travelled more than 440 feet, topped by a 497-foot drive.
After Stanton’s semifinal round, in which he uncorked 17 deep flies, Marlins teammate Christian Yelich tweeted what many observers were thinking: “In all fairness to everybody else they aren’t losing to a mortal man”.
Hitters competing in the first two rounds get one 45-second break in each round, while finalists can call timeout twice in that round. Yes, this is just a Home Run Derby and not a demonstration of raw power against major league pitching, but still, this was a flat-out impressive showing from the Marlins outfielder.
When it was over, when Giancarlo Stanton took his final swing and the crowd roared one last time, he used his last bit of might to thrust his bat into the air. And it ranks 15th in promoting home runs, playing nearly perfectly neutral. His three-round total of 61 home runs set a new record for the event.
Corey Seager of the Los Angeles Dodgers was looking to become the first rookie to ever win the Home Run Derby.
In the first round Monday night at Petco Park in San Diego, Duvall beat the San Diego Padres’ Wil Myers 11-10. Frazier tallied 13 homers in the final round and entered the contest as the defending champion.
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The seeding was determined by home run totals through July 6, with the higher seeded player batting second in each run. The Chicago White Sox third baseman was only able to muster up 13. Frazier’s final home run of the round just cleared the wall in left field as he was preparing another swing.
