The 2011 MLB Home Run Derby needs to forget about their new policy of letting captains pick the team.
It was a decent idea, but clearly the system is flawed.
American League captain David Ortiz picked a teammate in Adrian Gonzalez that is currently tied for 18th in homeruns.
To make matters even worse, Ortiz picked New York Yankees second basemen Robinson Cano. He's a terrific player...but nobody really considers Cano to be a slugger. A whopping 28 players in MLB currently have more long balls.
Captain of the National League team Milwaukee Brewers first basemen Prince Fielder didn't to much better.
Selecting Matt Kemp makes sense, he has 22 homers and is one of the top young sluggers in the game.
It's the other two that don't sit well with fans.
He decided to take teammate Rickie Weeks with him. While Weeks has enjoyed an outstanding year at the top of the Brewers lineup, he is a lead-off hitter that is merely having a bit of an uptick in his homerun production. Weeks currently has 17 going into the break.
Nobody thinks masher when it comes to Weeks and it takes a bit of luster away from the whole event. As does adding the last member of the squad.
Matt Holliday of the St. Louis Cardinals is more of a slugger, but is having a down year in that department this season. His 14 homeruns at the break are only good enough for 33rd in the majors.
Over an entire team worth of players have gone yard more often than one of the eight members of the exclusive home run derby field.
It doesn't make any sense and it has fans in Arizona quite angry. The site of all of the All Star festivities, having a player on the Diamondbacks make it would have added a lot more energy to the Chase Field crowd.
Justin Upton is a budding star in the game and he finished the first half with 15. Chris Young and Kelly Johnson each have 16. Dan Bickley of The Arizona Republic talks about how the crowd is going to react to Fielder's gaffe:
Fielder's oversight will not go down easy with the near-capacity crowd attending the Home Run Derby. Fielder might even be treated like the guy who once played left field for San Francisco, the one with the big asterisk. What a shame.
This could've been a big moment for Upton, a chance for him to exhibit some star power. It robs Diamondbacks fans of great drama, of seeing how their young star would handle such a platform.
You want to have the home team's players involved as much as you can and this error by Fielder could have easily been avoided.
Instead, two guys that don't even have the combine total of Jose Bautista will be trudging out there knowing there were better options for Monday's festivities.
Please MLB, revert back to the old system next year.
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