SAN DIEGO – The All-Star Home Run Derby couldn’t have asked for a better matchup in this year’s final: Defending champion Todd Frazier vs. the Sultan of Statcast, Giancarlo Stanton.
In the end, Stanton’s raw power trumped Frazier’s Derby experience as the Miami Marlins slugger prevailed with relative ease, winning 20-13.
Stanton set the bar high in the final round, with 11 of his home runs surpassing the 440-foot mark. Over the Derby’s three rounds he totaled 61 homers, with 64% them (39) traveling over 440 feet.
“I knew I could do it endurance-wise. It was just if my swing was going to fall apart a little bit,” Stanton said. “Luckily my bat path stayed where I needed (it) to.”
MLB’s Statcast technology has made it much easier over the past two seasons to measure how hard and how far players hit the ball – and Stanton has been routinely among the best in the major leagues.
He led all players last season with an average exit velocity of 98.5 mph – nearly 4 mph ahead of everyone else.
So far in 2016, Stanton is tied for fourth (95.0 mph) and has the six highest single exit velocities recorded.
Although he said he didn’t swing as hard as he usually does during games, there were times when the adrenaline kicked in.
“I’d say I stuck at about 80, 90%,” Stanton said. “When I got a few in a row, I think I kinda bump it up five or 10 percent more when I get ‘em.”
Not surprisingly, Stanton had the longest home runs of the night – a 497-foot shot in each of the first two rounds.
“I grew up watching this,” Stanton said. “Now I’ll have kids saying the same thing, they watched me do this. I like to return the favor.”
In a ballpark that has been notoriously stingy in giving up home runs throughout its 15-year history, Stanton made Petco Park look like a hitter’s haven, winning for the first time in his two Home Run Derby appearances.
Since it first opened in 2002, Petco has historically ranked at or near the bottom of the park factor ratings in scoring, home runs or both.
However, some new construction around the park in recent years – combined with some minor reductions in the distance of the outfield fences in 2013 – may have finally turned the tables.
“They put up a couple new buildings in the backdrop that I believe helps the ball fly,” hometown favorite Wil Myers of the Padres said earlier Monday at a pre-Derby press conference.
According to ESPN’s Park Factor calculations, Petco is tied with Fenway Park in Boston as the 10th best venue for scoring in the first half of the 2016 season. And it ranks 15th in promoting home runs, playing almost perfectly neutral.
“I just think this is a park that I see the ball well at and it's got a great hitters eye and I have just always seen the ball well here,” said Myers, who was eliminated by the Cincinnati Reds’ Adam Duvall in the first round.
Frazier and Stanton certainly didn’t have any problem seeing the ball in the San Diego twilight.
It was Frazier's third consecutive appearance in the championship round, winning it last season in Cincinnati and finishing second the year before in Minneapolis.
The defending champion defeated Carlos Gonzalez 13-12 in the first round and Duvall 16-15 in the semifinals.
Stanton, who wasn’t selected for the All-Star team, was the No. 5 seed in the Derby after finishing the first half with 20 homers. He easily dispatched 2011 champion Robinson Cano in the opening round and edged the majors’ leading home run hitter, Mark Trumbo of the Baltimore Orioles, 17-14 in the semifinals.
“I came here just for this,” Stanton said, staring at the championship trophy. “I figure it’s a waste if I don’t bring this bad boy home.”
Full results
First round
No. 1 Mark Trumbo (16 home runs) def. No. 8 Corey Seager (15 HR)
No. 5 Giancarlo Stanton (24 HR) def. No. 4 Robinson Cano (7 HR)
No. 3 Adam Duvall (11 HR) def. No. 6 Wil Myers (10 HR)
No. 2 Todd Frazier (13 HR) def. No. 7 Carlos Gonzalez (12 HR)
Semifinals
Stanton (17 HR) def. Trumbo (14 HR)
Frazier (16 HR) def. Duvall (15 HR)
Final
Stanton (20 HR) def. Frazier (13 HR)
