All-Star Game, Todd Frazier, Joc Pederson, Home Run Derby, Richard Sandomir

This originally appeared on my other blog, but I didn’t feel like reinventing the wheel, so…

How abut that kid?

Joc Pederson came within one home run of winning in his very first appearance. From an ESPN story:

It was Pederson who had put on the best show of the night, crushing 13 mammoth homers in under three minutes to send Manny Machado home in the first round, then scrambling back from an awful start to beat the great Albert Pujols, 12-11, in Round 2.

And in the final, Pederson whomped 14 more homers — including six in six swings at one point. And that left Frazier needing to piece together the biggest round of his Derby career if he was going to win this thing.

The new format was a four-minute round, with one time out available and “bonus” of 30 seconds if the batter reached a certain distance, which I believe everyone did. They changed the set-up because the event was taking too long and losing interest primarily with the TV viewers. Because, after all, you’re just watching batting practice; the pitchers are tossing the ball in from what, 45 feet?

But I have to admit, it was actually interesting to see the strategies employed, as when the batter would slow things down rather than rushing, or deciding when to take their time out. The pitchers were also under a lot of pressure to get the ball over in an accurate and timely manner to allow the batters the most number of swings possible. The rules also stated that they couldn’t throw the next pitch until the ball landed, mostly for the safety of those kids in the field trying to catch anything that stayed in the park. There was a brief controversy because some of the announcers suggested that Chris Frazier, brother of the eventual winner (and home-town here — how many times did they say that? Plus the fact that he was a Little League champion from Tom River, and therefore “Jersey strong”?) Todd Frazier, didn’t wait the requisite time.

There’s a lot of space to fill, so they broadcasters toss in the usual trivia, such as Pederson’s leading the NL (or is the the Majors) in home runs 420-feet or more. One of his shots last night went an estimated 487-feet. (You can see more video here, from the MLB website.)

Richard Sandomir, sports media columnist for The New York Times told me in an email, “While especially liking the moments when Ken Griffey Jr. offered commentary, I found Berman nearly out of his control with his ‘back, back backs’ and his occasional lack of judgment about balls that he thought were going out but didn’t. But that is his Derby shtick–and he’s clearly sticking to it.”