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Saturday July 13th, 2013 

This years annual Homerun Derby will be held during All-Star weekend at Citi Field. Like every year, four players from each league will compete to see who is the best Homerun hitter in the MLB right now. Prince Fielder will once again compete in the Derby looking to win in back-to-back years.  We are definitely in for an exciting treat this year as we will get to see the likes of Prince Fielder, David Wright, Robinson Cano, Chris Davis, and several others compete to see who can hit the most big flies.

By Dan Wanser (Baseball Writer): Follow @DanWanser

During this years All-Star break festivities that will take place at Citi Field, we will be lucky to see players such as Chris Davis, Prince Fielder,  David Wright, and  Robinson Cano take the field and try to hit as many Tater Trots as they can.

Players like Robinson Cano and Prince Fielder will look to add to their previous victories, as players like Chris Davis and Bryce Harper will look to make a name for themselves by being first time winners.

How will the different players do in this years State Farm Homerun Derby? Here’s my take:

2012 MLB Homerun Derby Slow Motion Swings:

American League

Robinson Cano (captain): 

Robinson Cano won the 2011 ALL – Star HR Derby – before bowing out of the competition before is even started – (much to a disgruntled KC crowd last year at Kauffman Stadium who booed him during the actual game.) He is the Captain of the AL Squad – and one has to wonder whether or not he would have been in this thing if it weren’t held in New York City?  Cano has 198 Career HRs.

First we’ll start with the Captain of the American League team. Robinson Cano is the second baseman for the Yankees, and is a contender to win the Homerun Derby.

Cano won the 2011 Derby by hitting 32 Homeruns including 12 in the final round. He also is hitting fairly well power wise this year, as he leads his team with 21 bombs. I don’t think Robinson Cano will win this years Homerun Derby, but you definitely can’t count him out.

The Yankees 2B will look to lead his AL team to victory. Cano has some very good power hitters on his team in Prince Fielder and Chris Davis who should be able to make some noise and compete at the end for the trophy.

Prince Fielder: 

Prince Fielder who turned 29 in May. will be 37 when his big deal ends with the Tigers. Fielder has a Career 3 Slash Line of .285/.390/.923 – with 276 Career HRs.

Like Robinson Cano, Prince Fielder will also be a serious contender to win this years Home Run Derby. Prince is the First Baseman for the Detroit Tigers where he puts up pretty big power numbers.

Fielder won the 2012 Home Run Derby by hitting 28 Home Runs, with 12 in the final round. This year, he is second on his team behind Miguel Cabrera as he has hit a respectable 16 Homers.

I don’t think Prince Fielder will do enough to win the Derby, but he might be able to advance into one of the later rounds.

Chris Davis: 

Chris Davis is one of the premier sluggers in all of baseball, and is showing everyone that he is a great all-around hitter as well. He is on pace to hit at least 60 HRs this season, and this would put him in some exclusive company.  He has 35 HRs (.702 SLG %) heading into play today – the highest total at the Break since 2001.  The burly 1B has 112 HRs in his career – including 54 in his last 158 Games, with 133 RBI.

Chris Davis is my pick to win the whole thing. He plays First base for the Baltimore Orioles and is having a solid all-around year.

This is his first time competing in the Homerun Derby, but he is having a tremendous year power wise as he has hit 35 shots this year.

Chris Davis definitely has the ability to win this years Derby, and I personally think he will.

Yoenis Cespedes:

Cespedes clubbed 23 HRs last year for the AL West winning games. The Cuban has 15 more this season to give him 38 Career HRs in 788 AB.

Personally, I don’t think Cespedes really has much of a chance to do anything in this years competition. He has 15 homers for the Oakland Athletics this year, but is a big underdog considering who he is going up against.

Don’t get me wrong here, if you have a spot you have a chance, but I don’t like Cespedes chances and realistically I don’t think he will make it past the 1st round.  Although, some swear by his batting practice ability.  He may be feared in future HR Derby’s to come.

National League

David Wright (captain):

David Wright enters this competition with the lowest amount of Round Trippers in the contest with 13. He has smacked 217 for his Career – and will have the home crowd cheering for him at Citi Field.

David Wright is the Third Baseman for the New York Mets and is the captain for the National League squad. This year, Wright will look to make a name for himself as a premier power hitter as this is his first career appearance in the Home Run Derby.

This year, Wright has 13 homers which ranks third on his team.

Despite being a great hitter, I don’t think Wright has what it takes to win this type of competition as I don’t really see him as Home Run hitter.

He may be able to make a push past the first round, but I don’t think he will be able to go any further than that.

Bryce Harper:

As a 16 Year Old, Harper was hitting moonbeam shots into the roof area’s of Tropicana Field in a HR challenge. However he has battled bursitis in his left knee this year – and is likely not 100%. Nats fans will be watching nervously. If I were a Washington fan – I would want him to bow out early to stave off potential injury.  The sophomore has 35 Career HRs in just 726 AB.

Bryce Harper is the Right Fielder for the Washington Nationals, and like David Wright, he also has 13 homers to this point in the season.

I personally don’t think Harper should be competing in this years Derby because I don’t think he is really much of a Home Run hitter compared to many other players.

Because of this, I don’t think Bryce will go very far at all in this years competition. I think he will hit a few Home Runs, but will not make it out of the first round.

Michael Cuddyer:

Michael Cuddyer is the most unlikely candidate to win this thing. He has 15 HRs this year and 172 for his career.  He also plays half of his time at the wind aided Coors Field.  He will be hard pressed to make it through to the 2nd round.

Michael Cuddyer is the Right Fielder for the Colorado Rockies and I was very surprised when I found out that he was picked to compete.

This campaign, Cuddyer has hit a respectable 15 Home Runs up to this point in the season.  Like Bryce Harper, I don’t really see Cuddyer making it out of the first round. He does have an outside shot of advancing to the semi’s, but I don’t see it happening.

Pedro Alvarez finished 2nd amongst Third Baseman in the NL for HRs in 2012 with 30 (Headley led with 31). He has replaced CARGO in the HR Derby and will have a punchers chance to win the thing with his big sweeping swing. The Bucs big Third Baseman has cracked 24 Homers this season.  This guy may actually represent the NL’s best chance to win. He has 74 HRs in 1404 Career AB.

Chris Davis has put up tremendous numbers so far this year and I think he will continue his success and go on to win this years Home Run Derby. He has one of the swings that is flawless – and requires little torque on one’s body. This should tip the scales in his favor as the competition goes into the later rounds.

*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com or their partners ***

A big thank-you goes out to Our writer Dan Wanser for preparing today’s featured article.  Dan is a Baseball Writer for MLB reports. He is a Junior at Pottsville High School in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

Dan is a huge fan of Chase Utley and Cliff Lee.  He has been a baseball fan his whole life and loves writing about baseball.

You can reach Dan on Twitter  Follow @DanWanser

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