The Home Run Derby has quickly turned into the Slam Dunk Contest of the MLB All-Star festivities. ESPN keeps touting it as "star studded" and that is far from the truth.
17 hitters were voted into the All-Star Game by the fans. 8 hitters are taking part in the HR Derby. Only Joe Mauer of the AL and Hanley Ramirez of the NL are in both groups. The rest of the field is filled out by Corey Hart, Chris Young, and Matt Holliday of the NL and Miguel Cabrera, Vernon Wells, and Nick Swisher of the AL. I guarantee you the average MLB fan has no idea who in the hell Hart, Young, or Wells are.
Now, no disrespect to those 3 guys. They're having great years with 21, 15, and 19 HRs respectively. However, just for kicks, let's replace each of those hitters with the player in their league that the fans voted as a starter ahead of them. We can replace Corey Hart with his teammate Ryan Braun, Chris Young with the Dodgers' Andre Ethier, and Vernon Wells with 3B Evan Longoria because Josh Hamilton "retired" from the Derby and Carl Crawford and Ichiro are not power guys. Suddenly the lineup looks a lot more appealing to the average fan.
Even if we fixed the lack of star power, we haven't fixed how boring it is. It's too long. Hell, most sluggers tire out by the end of the contest. Just ask Josh Hamilton. Most managers and front offices even prefer their players don't compete because it can wear a guy out for a playoff push. Some don't mind. Hmmm...I'm calling racism. Can I do that?
So how would I make the HR Derby more thrilling and exciting? I don't friggin' know. I don't get paid to sit around and think about these kind of things. I don't even get paid to write this crap. I'm not fixing MLB's problem for free.
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