How fast are pitches in home run derby

Or bring on Francisco Rodriguez to face Derek Jeter. One at-bat. A hit or walk means the batter wins the match-up. A strike out or out constitutes a win for the pitcher. It's that simple. It's not easy simulating pressure situations, but baseball can come up with some reward for the winners.

Hey, they came up with the idea that the winner of the All-Star game receives home-field advantage for their league in the World Series. How about a base-stealing contest?

I would have loved to see Ivan Rodriguez in his prime trying to throw out the likes of Carl Crawford or Joey Gathright. There's a few catchers out there who have cannons for arms that would make the contest interesting. I know this idea would never fly, but how about putting hula-hoops down the first- and third- baselines and allowing the games best bunters to lay one down into the hula-hoop.

Now that's skill, and something needed in a baseball game with regularity. All I'm saying is that if baseball wants to invigorate a few things, they should cut back on the home run hitting contest less contestants, fewer outs allowed , and add some intriguing events, such as the one-on-one contests I outlined or ones that constitute using some skill.

Yes, I understand the importance of the home run in a baseball game. Yes, I know how fans appreciate balls flying out of parks. But in my book, a pitcher's duel is the same as a slug fest. Major League Baseball, it's time to show off the skill your league's players possess. Put a little excitement into the events on the eve of your mid-summer classic. The Home Run Derby gets going at 8 p.

The focus will be on the hitters, with Shohei Ohtani the big name to watch. The world will be watching the sluggers do their thing, but in many ways, their partner on the mound could prove just as important. Each batter in the Derby gets to pick who will pitch to them. Some will go with a familiar face that throws batting practice day-in and day-out. Some will pick a person they have a good chemistry with, even if that person does not regularly pitch to them.

After the first round, the winner of the Ohtani-Soto matchup will meet the winner of Perez-Alonso. On the other side of the bracket, the Gallo-Story winner faces the Olson-Mancini winner. The two players left standing will meet in the final round. Yes, 30 seconds of bonus time will be granted to each batter at the conclusion of each regulation period.

The bonus period, be it 30 seconds or 60 seconds, is a single time segment, with no timeouts. During the bonus period, a special T-Mobile magenta ball will be used. Yes, each batter is entitled to one second timeout in each of the three regulation periods. Timeouts cannot be called during the bonus periods. Ties in any round will be broken by a second swing-off with no stoppage of time or additional time added. If a tie remains after the swing-off, batters will engage in successive three-swing swing-offs until there is a winner.

The Derby had its first swing-off in , in the aforementioned Guerrero-Pederson duel. They hit eight homers apiece in the second swing-off, then one apiece in the first three-swing swing-off. Finally, in the third tiebreaker, Guerrero hit two long balls, and a gassed Pederson came up just short at one.

But in the Home Run Derby, the more dingers, the better. So no, the balls used in the Derby will not be stored in the humidor prior to the event. Fans can enter at mlb. Fans can submit their picks through p. ET on Monday.