Written by Steve Gardner at USAToday.com
The All-Star Home Run Derby couldn’t have asked for a better matchup in this year’s final: Defending champion Todd Frazier vs. the Sultan of Statcast, Giancarlo Stanton.
In the end, Stanton’s raw power trumped Frazier’s Derby experience as the Miami Marlins slugger prevailed with relative ease, winning 20-13.
Stanton set the bar high in the final round, with 11 of his home runs surpassing the 440-foot mark. Over the Derby’s three rounds he totaled 61 homers, with 64% them (39) traveling over 440 feet.
“I knew I could do it endurance-wise. It was just if my swing was going to fall apart a little bit,” Stanton said. “Luckily my bat path stayed where I needed (it) to.”
MLB’s Statcast technology has made it much easier over the past two seasons to measure how hard and how far players hit the ball – and Stanton has been routinely among the best in the major leagues.
He led all players last season with an average exit velocity of 98.5 mph – nearly 4 mph ahead of everyone else.
So far in 2016, Stanton is tied for fourth (95.0 mph) and has the six highest single exit velocities recorded.
Although he said he didn’t swing as hard as he usually does during games, there were times when the adrenaline kicked in.
“I’d say I stuck at about 80, 90%,” Stanton said. “When I got a few in a row, I think I kinda bump it up five or 10 percent more when I get ‘em.”
Not surprisingly, Stanton had the longest home runs of the night – a 497-foot shot in each of the first two rounds.
“I grew up watching this,” Stanton said. “Now I’ll have kids saying the same thing, they watched me do this. I like to return the favor.”
In a ballpark that has been notoriously stingy in giving up home runs throughout its 15-year history, Stanton made Petco Park look like a hitter’s haven, winning for the first time in his two Home Run Derby appearances.
To continue reading this article, click here.
