Vladimir Guerrero Jr 2019 MLB Home Run Derby

Table of Content

• This Week In … The Home Run Derby!
• Inside Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s incredible Derby performance3yJeffrey Passan
• Sorry, Pete Alonso, but Vlad Guerrero Jr. was the Home Run Derby peoples' champ
• This Week In … Fernando Tatis Jr. Should Be An All-Star!
• Top item on every team's holiday wish list
• This Week In … Vladimir Guerrero Jr.!

With the massive spike in home runs this year, there's no shortage of worthy sluggers to take part in this year's derby. The Atlanta Braves' Ronald Acuna Jr. did his best Ken Griffey Jr. impression by blowing bubbles in his gum while using all fields to open with 24 homers. "I have the utmost respect for the people that put their lives on the line every single day -- and I just wanna show my gratitude, because a bad day for me is a lot different than a bad day for the servicemen and women that serve this country," Alonso said. The New York Mets' Pete Alonso won a battle of rookies to outslug the Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and win the Home Run Derby at Progressive Field in Cleveland on Monday night. Makes you wonder if one day Vlad Jr. can break 100 homers in a single Derby.

Guerrero did have the honor of hitting the longest homer of the night, 488 feet, in the second round. That netted him a $100,000 bonus to go with his $500,000 for finishing second, which more than equals his season's salary of $468,468. In the final quarterfinal matchup, the Cleveland Indians' Carlos Santana had the hometown crowd behind him but found his groove too late in the round and finished with 13.

This Week In … The Home Run Derby!

Major League Baseball's home run leader will not be heading to the home run derby this season. "I'm happy I didn't face him in the early rounds because he would've knocked me out," Alonso said. "I gotta tip my cap. He's a hell of a hitter, and he's gonna have a really long career. It's unbelievable."

He nearly reached 30, but his last drive of bonus time scraped the left-field wall, falling just short. Somehow, they both hit eight home runs in the extra 60 seconds. To break the second tie, they each got three more swings. The first match-up of round two was tied for the third time.

Inside Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s incredible Derby performance3yJeffrey Passan

"I told them that I wasn't going to be able to do because I preferred to rest and be ready for the second half to help the team win games." With 29 homers, Guerrero broke the all-time Home Run Derby record for most homers in a single round. Just before the event, the Rangers tweeted about that old mark, set by Josh Hamilton in his unforgettable outing at the old Yankee Stadium in 2008. Round two started with Guerrero, and he brought the crowd to its feet with 29 home runs, matching the record that he had set barely an hour ago. But then Pederson, who was the Derby runner-up in 2015, matched him. He hammered his 29th homer as the clock buzzed, and each player was given 60 additional seconds to break the tie.

Alonso will take home the $1 million prize, but he won’t keep all of it. He’s donating five percent — $50,000 — to the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization he feels connected to through his grandparents, and another five percent to Tunnel to Towers. That match-up was dramatic and thrilling, but it wasn’t the final. Acuña and Pederson squared off to see who would face Guerrero in the last round. Acuña hit 19, but Alonso beat him with another buzzer-beating home run. Oakland’s Matt Chapman, Guerrero’s first competitor of the night, stood no chance.

Sorry, Pete Alonso, but Vlad Guerrero Jr. was the Home Run Derby peoples' champ

There’s no reason for this card to cost any more than a dollar or two. The only baseball cards nowadays worth anything are rare variants or those from rookie years, and Palmeiro’s is neither. It was simply a snapshot of a young and developing power hitter right as he turned the corner into a consistent performer—one who would go on to have a brilliant career that today counts for seemingly nothing. "I feel bad for him," an exhausted Pederson said after his final swing. Still even at 37, they then moved on to a three-swing playoff -- and both hit one each, with Pederson pulling his last hit just foul. They went at it one more time, with Guerrero finally moving on after hitting two homers to Pederson's one.

Given the advantage of going second, Pederson could only tie Guerrero's one home run in the first swing-off and had two chances to force a fourth tiebreaker but didn't homer on either. Vlad Jr. just wanted a moment to himself, and when he finished answering the final question about his 91-home run performance at the 2019 Derby, he took a breath and said, "Ay dios mio." Vlad Jr. then matched his own record in the second round, finishing with another 29.

This Week In … Fernando Tatis Jr. Should Be An All-Star!

Alonso turned out to be too tough a challenge after all those previous homers. It took a second swing-off for Guerrero to finally send Pederson home. The 29 homers were enough to take down Matt Chapman in the first round, but Guerrero met his match in the second round with Joc Pederson. Once more, Guerrero blew everyone away with 29 bombs ... Regardless of who gets chosen, the Derby will be a fun time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go light a candle for Big Dan.

It was a tough task and Guerrero was clearly drained, but he hit 22 homers anyway to bring his total for the entire Derby to an absurd 91. Some fans were surprised that baseball's mega prospect was asked to be in the Home Run Derby. He might be an elite prospect, but he's only hit eight homers since being called up. Here's the thing, though -- he has both the family genes for this kind of event, and he put in the work to crank out a special performance. Guerrero and Pederson’s multiple ties were the highlights of the night, but that’s what almost certainly sunk him and sapped him of his energy in the final round.

This was Vlad Jr. in all of his tater-mashing glory, announcing his presence on the big stage, living up to his famous father’s name, easily winning over the local crowd and no doubt selling a few more No. 27 Toronto Blue Jays jerseys in the process. Estimated delivery dates - opens in a new window or tab include seller's handling time, origin ZIP Code, destination ZIP Code and time of acceptance and will depend on shipping service selected and receipt of cleared payment. Delivery times may vary, especially during peak periods. "I think is something that I'm going to have to for the rest of my career, so I just want to make sure that I keep doing all my exercises and everything that I have to do to keep it healthy," Guerrero told Davidi.

That was enough to overcome a respectable output of 18 from the Pittsburgh Pirates' Josh Bell. And even though British fans don’t seem fully up on how this whole rooting for baseball thing works—given the preponderance of split Yankees/Red Sox attire and this terrifying level of joy over a ball—they did get one thing completely right. The Year of the Rabbit Ball has made it that much harder to build a Derby field, if only because you have more good candidates than open spots. When everyone’s hitting for power, it’s hard not to feel like a deserving name is going to get left out. But alas, only two spots remain, and I don’t envy those who have to narrow down the field. Alonso hit another walk-off homer in the semifinals, launching his 20th of the round over the trees behind the center-field fence as the four-minute clock expired to give him one more than Acuna's 19.