The majority of the 2014 Home Run Derby participants were announced today. The final two participants will be announced Thursday. Below are the members with their home run tallies for the year. * denotes captain
AL Squad *Jose Bautista (Toronto Blue Jays)- 17 HRs Yoenis Cespedes (Oakland Athletics)- 14 HRs Adam Jones (Baltimore Orioles)- 16 HRs Brian Dozier (Minnesota Twins)- 16 HRs | NL Squad *Troy Tulowitzki (Colorado Rockies)- 18 HRs Yasiel Puig (Los Angeles Dodgers)- 12 HRs Giancarlo Stanton (Miami Marlins)- 21 HRs Todd Frazier (Cincinnati Reds)- 17 HRs |
The only real questionable part of either team is Adam Jones and Brian Dozier. Sure Dozier is having a good season, but he is a leadoff hitter who is having a bit of luck this season. And Adam Jones isn't really a power guy. He is a consistent guy. You know you will get 25 homers out of him, but not much more. The NL squad is definitely the more powerful team. Don't forget the Home Run Derby will also take a new format this year. Each batter will have 7 outs per round, and have a bracketed format after the first round. The player with the most homers in the first round will get an automatic bye to the third round. The final round will have the NL and AL semi-final winners going against each other. If I was a betting man, I'd go for the NL team this year.