Growing up, the Home Run Derby was a fun event to watch with my family. I was amazed by the players and wanted to be one of the kids chasing the balls. And for me, the format was always the same: Each player would get ten “outs” per round to hit as many dingers as they could, and the players with the most would move on to the next round. I liked this. It was simple and effective.
When the MLB changed the format last year to a bracket style, I did not care for it. It was very flawed and needed some series changes.
This is exactly what they did in 2015. It was still a bracket style, but the players now had timed at-bats. Players would be paired by seeding and the one with the most home runs would advance. When they released this format, everyone was very confused. Why would they continue to change the format, when the old one worked perfectly well? MLB said they were trying to speed up the event, but it just didn’t seem like it would work.
I was curious to see how this derby would turn out. Each player had four minutes to hit and could receive bonus time if they hit a certain distance, with one timeout at some point during their at-bat. This made it go by a lot quicker, with the seeding making the competition more intense. Most pairings finished their regular time tied, so the winner was decided in bonus time. In previous years, each hitter had too much time in between swings, so getting to ten outs took forever. The clock forced players to not waste time. It ended up being really enjoyable and fun to watch.
Of course, there are still some flaws. The clock only stopped during the timeout, and hitters were not allowed another pitch until the ball dropped. This causes problems for players like Kris Bryant who liked to hit pop ups with longer airtime. If they paused the clock while the balls were in air, it would make the at-bats longer, but would be more fair.
Although the seeding of the players was a good idea, the Reds’ Todd Frazier got a huge advantage for the finals. Since he was No. 2 and Joc Pederson was No. 4, Pederson had to go first. He had a very short rest period, while Frazier had a little more time. Frazier’s longer rest time seemed to give him more of an edge. I think this needs to be fixed so players can have an equal rest time.
I was skeptical this year, but was extremely surprised while watching. I’m glad they made the changes to the format, as it was one of the most exciting ones I can remember seeing, and fans all over seemed to agree that the new format did in fact work. It also helped that Frazier won at the Great American Ballpark, his home turf.
Well done MLB, now just don’t go and change the entire format again next year.