2018 EHCC Home Run Derby Semi-Live Blog
The 2018 EHCC Home Run Derby is underway and we've got some big names participating in this year's competition. It should be a doozy.
2018 EHCC Home Run Derby Semi-Live Blog
By: Max Powers
JD Martinez leads the bunch heading into the competition hitting a league-leading 21 dingers for the Guerites of San Juan. Joining him from Puerto Rico is teammate Kris Davis (17) and Manny Machado (18). Shaddupu will send along bashers Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, who each come in with 19 dongs of their own. Rounding out the Eastern Division representation is Aaron Judge from Bridgewater, who comes in with 18 long balls. No surprise, the bottom three teams in the East failed to register a top 6 power bat for the competition, and so team leaders Justin Upton (LV), Ozzie Albies (RAK), and Travis Shaw (SFV) will just have to watch the EHCC.tv live stream from their couch.
The Western Division comes with slightly more diverse competition, with four teams sending representation. Jose Ramirez from Santo Domingo leads the change with 19 round trippers on the season. Joining him from the Dominican will be Christian Villanueva, who was cut by the All-Star Factory and resigned to a more favorable contract a few days later. He comes in with 15 dongs on the year. Quebec City will send along teammates Edwin Encarnacion (16) and CJ Cron (15). Cron was a late addition to the competition, literally signing back on with the Piglets just so he could play. It's fully expected he'll be cut as soon as the competition is over. Joey Gallo (17) makes his return to the competition, being the soul representation of the long lost Tokyo franchise. Mookie Betts, a last second addition, rounds out the division, representing Dublin with 17 dongs on the year. Tijuana leader Javier Baez (14) barely missed the cut after Betts returned from his injury at the last second, and Rio De Janerio, while Rio's leader, Mitch Haniger (13) didn't come close to making the list
And, for the first time, we have a Free Agent representing in the derby. As is customary, the previous year's Derby winner gets an automatic invitation to the following year as long as he's still playing MLB baseball. Logan Morrison will be the 13th player, coming in with a whopping 7 home runs on the season. Good luck Logan.
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Day 1 - Monday June 11
The Monday of the derby is historically boring, with a good chunk of the players deciding to take their time to show up to the event. Why doesn't anyone take this seriously?
Looks like this year isn't any different, with the only competitor to actually hit the ball out being Mike Trout. Luckily, we did get to see two home runs on the day, unfortunately for everyone else they both came from Trout. Only three other players even registered a hit on the first day (Betts, Ramirez, and Villanueva).
Current Leaderboard:
Trout - 2 HR
Villanueva - 1 H, 1 BB
Betts - 1 H
Ramirez - 1 H
Martinez - 1 BB
Everyone else - 0 everything
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Day 2 and 3 - Tuesday June 12 and Wednesday June 13
Rounding out the first round we start to see some actual action. Going into the final two days everyone was chasing Mike Trout's 2 home runs from day 1. Not to be outdone, Mike Trout himself pounded two more bombs on Tuesday to raise the bar ever higher.
Teammate Bryce Harper sulked in the corner and basically gave up after seeing his teammate cement his ticket to the next round, and only accounted for two walks in the entire first round. CJ Cron was the only other contestant to fail to record even one hit in the same time, but that's not to say we saw a whole lot of dongs in the first round beyond Trout's four. The only other players to record a homer was Kris Davis, who went yard twice himself, JD Martinez and Mookie Betts, who each record a single yak.
After that it comes down to everyone's favorite aspect of the Homerun Derby - TIEBREAKERS. With no triples being recorded in the first three days, it came down to doubles hit by Aaron Judge (2) and Jose Ramirez (1). Encarnacion, Morrison, Gallo, Machado, and Villanueva failed to record any extra base hits, making the tie breakers a bit easier to swallow this time around.
Teammate Bryce Harper sulked in the corner and basically gave up after seeing his teammate cement his ticket to the next round, and only accounted for two walks in the entire first round. CJ Cron was the only other contestant to fail to record even one hit in the same time, but that's not to say we saw a whole lot of dongs in the first round beyond Trout's four. The only other players to record a homer was Kris Davis, who went yard twice himself, JD Martinez and Mookie Betts, who each record a single yak.
After that it comes down to everyone's favorite aspect of the Homerun Derby - TIEBREAKERS. With no triples being recorded in the first three days, it came down to doubles hit by Aaron Judge (2) and Jose Ramirez (1). Encarnacion, Morrison, Gallo, Machado, and Villanueva failed to record any extra base hits, making the tie breakers a bit easier to swallow this time around.
Current Leaderboard:
1.) Mike Trout - 4 HR
2.) Khris Davis - 2 HR
3.) JD Martinez - 1 HR, 2 H, 4 BB
4.) Mookie Betts - 1 HR, 2 H, 1 BB
5.) Aaron Judge - 2 2B
6.) Jose Ramirez - 1 2B
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7.) Christian Villanueva - 1 H, 2 BB, 1 RBI
8.) Manny Machado - 1 H, 2 BB, 0 RBI
9.) Logan Morrsion - 1 H, 1 BB
10.) Joey Gallo - 1 H, 0 BB, 2 RBI
11.) Edwin Encarnacion - 1 H, 0 BB, 1 RBI
12.) CJ Cron - 2 BB, 0 RBI
13.) Bryce Harper - 2 BB, 0 RBI
5.) Aaron Judge - 2 2B
6.) Jose Ramirez - 1 2B
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Day 4 - Thursday June 14
With the field cut down to six, it makes collecting stats so much easier. It also makes it easier when the top dog in the competition is so confident that he takes a day off completely, which is exactly what Mike Trout did, deciding to sit out the first day of round 2. Mookie Betts also basically took the day off, failing to record even one hit. Jose Ramirez and Khris Davis helped their cause by each going long, while Aaron Judge and JD Martinez collected two hits each, but none of them went far enough to get them past first base.
Current Leaderboard:
1.) Mike Trout - 4 HR
2.) Khris Davis - 3 HR
3.) Jose Ramirez - 1 HR, 1 2B
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4.) JD Martinez - 1 HR, 0 2B, 4 H
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4.) JD Martinez - 1 HR, 0 2B, 4 H
5.) Mookie Betts - 1 HR, 0 2B, 2 H
6.)Aaron Judge - 0 HR, 2 2B
6.)Aaron Judge - 0 HR, 2 2B
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Day 5 - Friday June 15
Crickets. No home runs, only one extra base hit, but it wasn't enough. The standings don't change and the top 3 move on
5.) Mookie Betts - 1 HR, 0 2B, 4 H
6.) Aaron Judge - 0 HR, 3 2B
1.) Mike Trout - 4 HR
2.) Khris Davis - 3 HR
3.) Jose Ramirez - 1 HR, 1 2B
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4.) JD Martinez - 1 HR, 0 2B, 6 H
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Day 6 and 7 - Final Round - Saturday June 16 and Sunday June 17
When you hit four homers in the first 2 days I guess it's ok to take the remainder of the contest off. Jose Ramirez tried to make some noise with the Final round's only dong, but Kris Davis stayed quiet, allowing Mike Trout to coast to victory in this one. Congrats.
2.) Khris Davis - 3 HR
3.)Jose Ramirez - 2 HR
1.) Mike Trout - 4 HR
Labels: HomeRunDerby, Powers, Semi-Live
posted by Howe at 10:53 AM
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