The Case for Pitchers in the Home Run Derby

Source: http://ift.tt/1kZRmwU --- Monday, June 27, 2016
The All-Star games in all of the four major sports leagues (NHL, MLB, NFL, NBA) are starting to become irrelevant. If you’re a player, it’s an honor to be named to an All-Star team, but some would prefer to take a few days off rather than play one more game. From the fan’s point of view, the games are largely non-competitive affairs played at half speed. Luckily, major sports leagues have picked up on this and have implemented different contests to keep things interesting, that happens prior to the game itself. They show off the pure skill of the athletes involved. For instance in the NBA, there’s the Dunk Contest as well as a three-point contest and many other skill-based spectacles. In the NHL, there’s the skills competition. And in MLB, there’s the Home Run Derby. The Home Run Derby is interesting to watch, but it is not anything new. If one really wanted to watch a home run derby, they’d buy a ticket to a regular season game involving the Baltimore Orioles and get there early to watch batting practice. Josh Hamilton had a memorable home run derby performance in 2008 (July 14, 2008 – Source: Nick Laham/Getty Images North America) Problem solved. As interesting as the Home Run Derby is, it can get boring; There’s nothing memorable to them anymore. They occur every year and the game’s sluggers go up and tee-off on batting practice-speed pitches. The Home Run Derby is also really slow. Luckily, MLB picked up on this last year and ...

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