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Tuesday July 10th, 2012

John Burns:  Kauffman Stadium was electric Monday night from the top sluggers in baseball putting on an absolute home run clinic. Detroit’s Prince Fielder won his second Home Run Derby by beating Toronto’s Jose Bautista 12-7 in the final round. Fielder got off to a slow start with 5 homers in the first round which barely advanced him over Carlos Gonzalez and Andrew McCutchen who both had 4 home runs in the first round. After the first round it was all Prince Fielder. Prince hit 23 homers in the final two rounds and became only the second player to win multiple titles in the Home Run Derby.

Matt Kemp and Robinson Cano were the captains for their respected leagues and picked 3 sluggers to represent the NL and AL. The first round results for the sluggers were: Robinson Cano (0 homers), Matt Kemp (1 homer), Andrew McCutchen (4 homers), Carlos Gonzalez (4 homers), Prince Fielder (5 homers), Mark Trumbo (7 Homers), Carlos Beltran (7 homers), and the leader in the first round Jose Bautista with 11 homers.  Robinson Cano, Matt Kemp, Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Gonzalez were all eliminated after the 1^st round.

Prince Fielder, Mark Trumbo, Carlos Beltran, and Jose Bautista all advanced to the second round. The second round was dominated by Prince Fielder who hit 11 home runs in the second round, Carlos Beltran hit 5 homers in the second round, Mark Trumbo who surprised many hit 6 in the second round and would go against Jose Bautista in a swing-off. Beltran was eliminated with a total of 12 homers and Jose Bautista advanced to the finals vs. Prince Fielder after beating Mark Trumbo in the swing-off. The final round was between Jose Bautista and Prince Fielder and both were representing the American League. Prince Fielder exploded with 12 homers in the finals. Jose Bautista then looked to at least to come close to Fielders 12 but fell short with 7. Prince Fielder was then named the 2012 All-Star Home Run Derby Champion.

Prince Fielder and Ken Griffey Jr. are the only players to ever win more than one Home Run derby. Griffey won three titles, in 1994, 1998, and 1999. This year’s derby was filled with excitement from the emergence of sleeper Mark Trumbo to Robinson Cano being booed by Kansas City for not picking Billy Butler to participate in the derby. The atmosphere in KC was awesome fans were on their feet for majority of the derby and was a packed house till the last hitter. Robinson Cano might have not performed well but he did pick one heck of a derby team filled with proven sluggers. The NL fell short with Captain Matt Kemp only being able to hit one homer and unlike Cano his teammates did not step up. All around it was a great derby filled with some moon shot homers and excitement.

***John Burns- MLB reports Intern:  I am a highschool junior, play 1st base and catcher. I am a diehard Phillies fan. I  was born in Philadelphia but now live in Virginia. I come from a huge baseball family and just love the game. My cousin was drafted by the New York Mets in the 2008 MLB draft. My favorite players are Shane Victorino, Carlos Ruiz, and Ryan Howard. I tweet all the time and you can follow me on twitter (@JohnBurns_MLB)***

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