Alonso outslugs Vlad Jr to win Home Run Derby

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
• Pete Alonso dramatically defeats Vlad Guerrero, Jr. in 2019 Home Run Derby

With three more swings, Guerrero finally out-hit Pederson and advanced to the final. He hit 40 home runs to Pederson’s 39, which is a truly mind-collapsing number of home runs. CLEVELAND — Carlos Santana got the loudest roar to start the night, and Vlad Guerrero Jr. had the most support throughout, but the winner of the 2019 Home Run Derby was New York Mets rookie Pete Alonso. Guerrero had the crowd in the palm of his hand with his home run heroics , but Alonso hit 23 in the final round. He emerged victorious even though the crowd booed him through most of the night. Votto wasn’t the only player who got the best of a loudmouth in the stands last week.

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.

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There’s no reason for this card to cost any more than a dollar or two. The only baseball cards nowadays worth anything are rare variants or those from rookie years, and Palmeiro’s is neither. It was simply a snapshot of a young and developing power hitter right as he turned the corner into a consistent performer—one who would go on to have a brilliant career that today counts for seemingly nothing. "I feel bad for him," an exhausted Pederson said after his final swing. Still even at 37, they then moved on to a three-swing playoff -- and both hit one each, with Pederson pulling his last hit just foul. They went at it one more time, with Guerrero finally moving on after hitting two homers to Pederson's one.

Alonso turned out to be too tough a challenge after all those previous homers. It took a second swing-off for Guerrero to finally send Pederson home. The 29 homers were enough to take down Matt Chapman in the first round, but Guerrero met his match in the second round with Joc Pederson. Once more, Guerrero blew everyone away with 29 bombs ... Regardless of who gets chosen, the Derby will be a fun time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go light a candle for Big Dan.

Now he has an indelible moment to attach to his name and pedigree, which is the very sort of thing the Derby should serve to do. The 23-year-old participated in the 2019 Home Run Derby, finishing as the runner-up to New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso. Guerrero didn't participate when the derby returned from a one-year hiatus in 2021 but did win All-Star MVP honors. Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will not partake in July's Home Run Derby so that he can preserve his wrist health and focus on the second half of the season, according to Shi Davidi. Guerrero had previously suffered wrist soreness in May, and said that he views abstaining from the Derby as a precautionary measure.

He nearly reached 30, but his last drive of bonus time scraped the left-field wall, falling just short. Somehow, they both hit eight home runs in the extra 60 seconds. To break the second tie, they each got three more swings. The first match-up of round two was tied for the third time.

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.

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.

But how much of that was aided by chemical supplements is an open question, and one that ultimately stained his career. With two on and a one-run Dodgers lead, he cranked a pinch-hit homer off Wade Davis and capped his trip around the bases with some aggressive blowing of kisses to the dudes who had been riding him. He told reporters afterward that he was simply irked at wearing one for no reason. Strop, though, thinks it’s because Puig is a few crayons short of a full set.