I certainly pictured the Derby going different in my head. Who would've thought that Puig would have the jitters? Todd Frazier came out of nowhere to make it the finals. Stanton suffered from a power outage in the final round. There was a lot of the unexpected.
First Round
The night started out weird with a rain delay. As soon as it got started, it was fairly disappointing. No one besides Giancarlo Stanton and Jose Bautista seemed to bring their power with them. Puig looked antsy, and really just stunk up his brief time at the plate. Dozier was announced to chants of his name. I wished he had fed of the energy more, and made it to the finals, if only to see a hometown boy make it to the finals. Morneau was also met with much appreciation. The first round was finished with a Swing-Off for both sides. Cespedes vs Donaldson for the AL. Frazier vs Morneau for the NL.
AL Squad Jose Bautista- 10 HRs, won the bye Adam Jones- 4 HRs Josh Donaldson- 3 HRs, 1 HR in the Swing-Off Yoenis Cespedes- 3 HRs, 2 HR in the Swing-Off Brian Dozier- 2 HRs | NL Squad Giancarlo Stanton- 6 HRs, won the bye Troy Tulowitzki- 4 HRs Todd Frazier- 2 Hrs, 1 in the Swing-Off Justin Morneau- 2 HRs, 0 in the Swing-Off Yasiel Puig- 0 HRs |
Second Round
The second round brought a more interesting segment of the Derby. This is the round where we saw Cespedes start to take hold of the competition. Cespedes smashed 9 homers. Long shots going everywhere. We knew Jones had a tough task, and Jones didn't stand up to the task at hand. Jones knocked out 3. Not a lot, but good enough. Then Frazier came out of nowhere to smack 6 dingers. These weren't cheap, either. Many went to straight-away center. We all thought he put up a good fight, but also thought Tulo had a chance to at least cause a Swing-Off. When Tulo came back out to hit, he looked rough. He was swinging at bad pitches. He had a tightened up swing. It was over for him quickly.
AL Squad Adam Jones- 3 HRs Yoenis Cespedes- 9 HRs | NL Squad Troy Tulowitzki- 2 HRs Todd Frazier- 6 HRs |
Third Round
This was a round everyone that was watching got excited for. It had the makings of a huge round, but fizzled. Everyone thought Frazier's day was done when he only hit 1. He looked tired. Then Stanton came out and proceeded to hit the ball everywhere but the stands. Certainly a disappointing end for the most interesting man in the competition. Cespedes came out and hit 7 more homers. He was just a beast throughout. Bautista put up a fight, but it wasn't enough. It was good to see a battle between the two players who wanted to win the most, though.
AL Squad Jose Bautista- 4 HRs Yoenis Cespedes- 7 HRs | NL Squad Giancarlo Stanton- 0 HR Todd Frazier- 1 HR |
Final Round
Frazier elected to go second, hoping Cespedes would be tired after hitting 7. That was a bad idea, because the previous round was only warm-up. Cespedes cranked out 9. It was pretty clear that barring any miracles, Frazier would lose. He looked tired, and it showed when he only hit 1 bomb. Cespedes won for his second year in a row, and put on a dazzling showcase of his power. Was this format more interesting? No, not particularly. In fact the contest seemed to drag on longer than usual, but it was still pretty entertaining to watch Cespedes work his magic. Congratulations to Yoenis Cespedes, the 2014 Home Run Derby Champion.