Joc Pederson Comes in Second At Best Home Run Derby Ever

That was fun. That was so fun. I don’t think anyone could argue that MLB’s new timed Home Run Derby was anything other than a smashing success, because that was just a different event than we’ve seen in recent years. The bloat was gone. The excitement was in. This format was great, and I imagine it’s here to stay.

It helped, of course, that Great American Ballpark is known for being a hitter’s haven. It helped that the hometown boy Todd Frazier (go Jersey!) won it on a last-second walkoff. And it certainly helped that Joc Pederson hit bombs, 39 of them, to beat Manny Machado and Albert Pujols before falling to Frazier in the  end:

I don’t even care that he lost. (Imagine caring, I mean, truly caring, about the outcome of something fun like this?) This was so much fun. Well done, Joc. Well done, baseball.

Yep. Yep.

About Mike Petriello

Mike writes about lots of baseball in lots of places, and right now that place is MLB.com.