HR Derby 2023

[RobinThicc]

Feels good man

[spats]

Very happy for Vladdy. He deserved this. Actually good derby I just don't like the announcers or the fact that we can't see the bombs like we did in the past. It just happens to quick. You're always turning the page.

 

It seemed like all I was doing was watching the numbers. You really couldn't follow the ball.

[Grant77]

I noticed this as well

 

I guess they were expecting Arozarena to win! I thought it could happen, but both guys were gassed in the bonus time.

[M.E.]

Now go hit 25 homers in the 2nd half!

 

And win another trophy

[Brownie19]

Did anyone see the poor kid take one directly to the face in Vlad's last round? I think it was the 2nd ball he hit - line drive to LF, directly to the mind. Perhaps sending out 10 year olds to catch 105 MPH liners off the bat isn't a great idea?

[glory]

Congrats to Vlad. Hopefully it jump starts his bat in the 2nd half.

[Abomination]

Did anyone see the poor kid take one directly to the face in Vlad's last round? I think it was the 2nd ball he hit - line drive to LF, directly to the mind. Perhaps sending out 10 year olds to catch 105 MPH liners off the bat isn't a great idea?

 

It was probably fine in previous iterations, but when multiple balls may be in the air at a time (or close to it), there's a good chance the kids won't know a ball is coming at them.

[Spanky99]

Did anyone see the poor kid take one directly to the face in Vlad's last round? I think it was the 2nd ball he hit - line drive to LF, directly to the mind. Perhaps sending out 10 year olds to catch 105 MPH liners off the bat isn't a great idea?

 

lol... I thought the same thing, do there parents sign off a waiver. Missiles everywhere.

[jaysblue]

Hope Vlad starts hitting for more power in the second half! Awesome performance!

[Spanky99]

It was probably fine in previous iterations, but when multiple balls may be in the air at a time (or close to it), there's a good chance the kids won't know a ball is coming at them.

 

Yeah, it's a shooting gallery.

[Pinkfloid]

I preferred the older version where there was a wait to throw pitches until the previously hit ball landed. Allowed you, as the viewer, to admire the actual homers. It's much too hard to follow along on the broadcast as-is and everything seems so same-y after a while. Surely MLB could come up with some hybrid system. Maybe the final minute of added time is a free-for-all, swing-as-fast-as-you-can type of thing with the earlier rounds either having a longer time limit to account for the wait between pitches, or the classic certain number of swings and misses allowed.

[Jaysareus]

Too bad Vlad can't hit home runs at Rogers center

[Spanky99]

Did anyone see the poor kid take one directly to the face in Vlad's last round? I think it was the 2nd ball he hit - line drive to LF, directly to the mind. Perhaps sending out 10 year olds to catch 105 MPH liners off the bat isn't a great idea?

 

I went back to see this, that kid got smoked, like scary s*** man. It was the 2nd one, crazy. lol... I hope he's okay.

[John_Havok]

Dan, I picked the HR derby tiebreakers almost perfectly…

 

Had Robert jr with the longest at 485, he hit one 484.

 

Had 71 as the total for the winner, total was 72.

 

Too bad my bracket was awful…lol

[JaysAllMighty]

That machine gun style Home Run derby isn't fun to watch. It's all rush rush rush while the viewers get to see nothing about the hits.

[Laika]

I dunno. I don't think there is a right answer.

 

The old format where the hitters got 10 "outs" was fun sometimes, but really f***ing boring at other times. It was really fun when Josh Hamilton got hot and hit like 38 dingers but super boring when a good player just lost their swing for 30 seconds and was done.

 

The new format is more exciting but harder to follow on TV. When they started the new format I think there was a rule that the next pitch could not be thrown until the ball landed, but that was kind of hard to enforce and nobody actually wants there to be an ump or official involved in these things...

 

I feel like they could turn the current machine gun format into a better TV product with some more modern camera angles, and maybe golf style ball tracking. Like if you always had the front view and a rear view with ball flight tracking it might be fun.

 

I am sure the current format is MUCH more exciting in person.

 

I thought last night was good.

 

It's interesting how much endurance matters, though. I guess endurance + raw power matter. Vlad was one of the only competitors who could hit homers with just his arms so despite having poor stamina he was able to win it. Most of the other guys need full swings with their lower half to clear the wall. Even guys like Robert and J Rod could not really poke balls over the wall once they were gassed.

 

Arozarena was dialed in but needed swings that were 95% perfect to homer. Vlad was able to hit it like 80% correct and clear the wall.

 

Julio Rodriguez' round 1 was the most impressive part of the night by far. That was like Vlad's 2019 moment. Vlad is the new Pete Alonso, basically.

[Dr. Dinger]

Does anyone else wince when Vladdy does that thing at the end of swings when his shoulders go screwy and his bat winds all the way around his torso? When he was getting fatigued towards the end I was definitely concerned he was going to injure his shoulders.

 

I’m glad he won but please let that be his last derby.

[Laika]

Does anyone else wince when Vladdy does that thing at the end of swings when his shoulders go screwy and his bat winds all the way around his torso? When he was getting fatigued towards the end I was definitely concerned he was going to injure his shoulders.

 

I’m glad he won but please let that be his last derby.

 

nah this is going to fix his HR swing and he needs to do this more often

[bones10]

Did vlad win anything for winning the derby? What

[max silver]

That machine gun style Home Run derby isn't fun to watch. It's all rush rush rush while the viewers get to see nothing about the hits.

 

I think a small tweak that could really help is to add a pitch timer. Instead of having to throw the pitch within a specified time limit, this would limit how soon the next pitch could be delivered. I don't know how fast the pitches were coming in last night, but slowing down the proceedings just a little bit would allow things to breathe a little bit and give the viewers a chance to actually watch the home runs leave the park.

[Spanky99]

Did vlad win anything for winning the derby? What

 

MLB offered a 2.5 million prize pool for Derby participants. The winner, Vlad Guerrero Jr. received $1 million. Runner-up Randy Arozarena received $750,000. The remainder of the pool was divided among all participants.

[jaysblue]

MLB offered a 2.5 million prize pool for Derby participants. The winner, Vlad Guerrero Jr. received $1 million. Runner-up Randy Arozarena received $750,000. The remainder of the pool was divided among all participants.

 

Damn I would have participated!

[Stangstag]

Does anyone else wince when Vladdy does that thing at the end of swings when his shoulders go screwy and his bat winds all the way around his torso? When he was getting fatigued towards the end I was definitely concerned he was going to injure his shoulders.

 

I’m glad he won but please let that be his last derby.

 

Bo does it all the time (in-game) and he’s been ok