MLB has announced the eight-man field and the brackets for the Home Run Derby which will take place next Monday at Progressive Field in Cleveland.
The eight players are seeded by the number of homers they have hit this season through Tuesday, July 2. The winner of the 1/8 matchup will play the winner of the 4/5 matchup in the semifinals, while the winners of the other two first-round matchups will also meet in the semifinals.
This is a very young group of athletes which includes two rookies (Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Pete Alonso), as well as a second-year player who is just 21 years old in Ronald Acuna Jr. Carlos Santana is easily the oldest player in the field at 33 years old, as the next two oldest are Christian Yelich and Joc Pederson who are both 27.
(Home run and at bat totals from games played through July 3).
(1) Christian Yelich vs. (8) Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
2019 homer totals: Yelich - 31 in 296 ABs, Guerrero Jr. 8 in 214 ABs
Career homer totals: Yelich - 126 in 3,348 ABs, Guerrero Jr. 8 in 214 ABs
Fun facts: Since the completion of last year’s All-Star Game, Yelich has hit an insane 56 home runs in 552 at-bats.
Guerrero Jr.’s famous Hall of Fame father won the Home Run Derby back in 2007 at Oracle Park in San Francisco. Also, according to ESPN, he will have the least career homers entering the derby (previous low: Kris Bryant with 12).
(4) Alex Bregman vs. (5) Joc Pederson
2019 homer totals: Bregman 23 in 307 ABs, Pederson 20 in 249 ABs
Career homer totals: Bregman 81 in 1,658 ABs, Pederson 107 in 1,831 ABs
Fun facts: Bregman is hoping to receive accolades during two straight All-Star breaks if he wins the Home Run Derby on Monday, as he was named the All-Star Game MVP last year.
It’s safe to say that Pederson’s pitcher for the derby will be right-handed being all 20 of his homers this season have come against right-handers as did 24 of his 25 last year.
(2) Pete Alonso vs. (7) Carlos Santana
2019 homer totals: Alonso 28 in 313 ABs, Santana 19 in 302 ABs
Career homer totals: Alonso 28 in 313 ABs, 217 in 4,856 ABs
Fun facts: Alonso’s 28 home runs are only 11 shy of the NL rookie record set by Cody Bellinger (39) in 2017. If he keeps up his current pace, he could also catch Aaron Judge’s MLB rookie record of 52, also set in 2017.
Santana will look to be the third player in the last five years to win the derby at his home park (Bryce Harper in 2018, Todd Frazier in 2015). It only happened once previous to those occurrences when Ryne Sandberg won in Chicago in 1990.
(3) Josh Bell vs. (6) Ronald Acuna Jr.
2019 homer totals: Bell 26 in 324 ABs, Acuna Jr.
20 in 346 ABs
Career homer totals: Bell 67 in 1,502 ABs, Acuna Jr. 46 in 779 ABs
Fun facts: Bell has already more than doubled his home run total from last season (26 in 2018, 12 in 2017) despite currently having 177 less at bats.
As young as Acuna is, he still missed out by about a year on being the youngest to start an All-Star Game. According to MLB.com, Al Kaline is the youngest as he started in the All-Star Game at the age of 20 years, six months in 1955.