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Sanchez, up to the plate first as the lower seed, put on an absolute show to remind everyone of what kind of slugger he was last season. Each hitter has one of the top five home runs by distance this season , and the two both have left the yard at least a dozen times in 2017. Johnson leads the league with 13 homers after he had just one in his first professional season in 2016.
Stanton is the top seed, with Judge on the opposite side of the bracket as the No. 2 seed. And Judge faced a significant challenge before he even stepped to the plate, watching from the batting cage as Bour put 22 on the board. The 6-foot-7, 282-pound Judge responded with 23, including a 501-foot blast that cleared the home run sculpture in left-center field. Eight players participated in the derby in a bracket-style, single-elimination timed event.
Home Run Derby bracket
For reference, MLB.com has Aroldis Chapman's average fastball at 98.2 mph. That means Sano has been hitting the average ball off his bat at a faster pace than a Chapman fastball – that's insane. No other hitter is within two miles per hour of Sano, with Aaron Judge coming in second at 96.2 miles per hour. What follows is a dream bracket, eight players in their four first-round matchups, one matchup per slide. If you recall, the Derby is now set up such that two hitters square off in a round, getting four minutes of running time to hit as many home runs as they can with limited timeouts .
He ranks third in the league with a .324 batting average. Columbia's Michael Paez and Dash Winningham , Rome's Brett Cumberland and Asheville's Vince Fernandez will represent the Southern Division. Winningham is tied for third in the league with 10 home runs. The Florida native has four multi-homer games in his young professional career. Winningham was selected in the eighth round by the Mets in 2014.
Sano Up First!
He has 30 seconds of bonus time to tie Sanchez's total of 17. Judge earns 30 seconds of bonus time due to the distance of his home runs. The first semifinal matchup pits Miguel Sano against Gary Sanchez. Remember, fatigue begins to set in a bit in the second round and final after the explosive first round. Sano improves throughout his final round to hit 10 home runs. The field of contestants has been finalized and Stanton is among the favorites to win.
Dalton Smith , Jordan Holladay , and Ward Hacklen are the local high schoolers who will have a crack at competing with the South Atlantic League All Stars. These three all won qualifying rounds, which took place earlier this season at Spirit Communications Park. In addition, there are three regional high schoolers from Greenville, Myrtle Beach and Charleston also involved in the event. Seby Zavala , Daniel Johnson , Sheldon Neuse and Trae Arbet are the participants for the Northern Division. These four sluggers have combined to hit 37 home runs so far this season. Stanton had the 20 hardest hit home runs in last year's Home Run Derby, according to MLB.com.
Can Stanton Beat Sanchez?
All told, Sano homered 31 times during the Derby, racking up roughly 2.5 miles of distance. HIs longest home run clocked in at 491 feet, while his hardest-hit went 113 mph. Judge moved past Bellinger to advance to the finals, using a 513-foot shot to pave the way. His OPS+ is fifth among pitchers in that time, and he has only improved in recent seasons, with an incredible 14 home runs since the start of the 2014 season. It doesn't have the star power of a Stanton-Judge or the raw power of Sano-Gallo, but it pits two of the youngest all-around studs in baseball against each other.
"I don't know that the game has ever seen a power like that. Stanton has the most velocity, but I think Judge is going to be a really interesting career to follow." Try 47 home runs covering 3.9 miles with his longest going 513 feet and his hardest going 119 mph. Sano went first and offered 10 home runs in the final round. Judge then delivered 11 home runs, with an average distance of 427 feet.
One person who will not be competing in this year’s Derby is Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper. CBS Sports reported that Harper has said there is “no chance” that he will be in this year’s contest. Harper will participate in the All-Star Game, and has competed in the Derby twice before.
The 2017 Home Run Derby took place on Monday night, with New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge edging Minnesota Twins third baseman Miguel Sano in the finals to take the crown. The semifinals pitted Sanchez vs. Twins Sano and Judge vs. Dodgers rookie Clay Bellinger. Judge, the last hitter to bat in the first round, had to top Marlins first baseman Justin Bour in a ridiculous head-to-head battle. Bour cranked 22 home runs, feeding off the energy of the home town Miami crowd. MLB announced earlier today that teammates Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez will be participants in MLB's 2017 Home Run Derby.
Bellinger looks exhausted as he finishes up his semifinal round. Now it's time to watch the star of the night, Judge, and see how many home runs he can knock out of the park. "He's so quiet and simple that he looks like a contact hitter trapped in an ogre's body," the Rockies' Charlie Blackmon said.
Paez has blasted six homers for the Fireflies this season and is tied for the league lead with 20 doubles. The infielder clubbed 15 home runs in his junior season at Coastal Carolina, which ranked second among the nation's shortstops in 2016. Paez was taken in the fourth round by the Mets last year. Judge faced a less daunting challenge in the second round, producing a baker's dozen -- including blasts of 501, 504 and 513 feet -- before defeating Bellinger with a 507-foot drive to left field. In the first round, Yankees catcher Gary Sanchezoutlasted Marlins outfielder--and the Vegas favorite to win the event--Giancarlo Stanton by a score.
The winner moves on and faces another one-on-one matchup in the semifinals and the same goes for the final. It's a bit different than the Derby we grew up with, but it is nice in that it adds plenty of drama to even the first round. On April 22, he set the pace for the league with a 462-foot, 116.1-mph home run that was the furthest and hardest-hit home run of the season at the time. That velocity has been topped twice since, and of course one of those times was by Gallo himself, who left the yard at 116.3 mph on May 29 against the Tampa Bay Rays.
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