In a season of ups and downs for Giancarlo Stanton, came the home run derby preceding the All-Star game in San Diego, and gave the Miami Marlins slugger an opportunity to shatter some records, and crown him as Major League Baseball’s best long ball hitter, at least for one day.
Stanton hit 61 home runs on the day, shattering the 41 record held by Bobby Abreu for his performance in 2005. He hit 20 of them in the final against defending champion, Todd Frazier, beating Robinson Cano and Mark Trumbo in the previous rounds. Maybe more impressive was the fact that 20 of the 21 longest home runs in the derby were hit by Stanton. The other one? Mark Trumbo, hitting the scoreboard, something it looked like everyone were aiming for.
My goodness… Stanton Rd. 3 pic.twitter.com/K0s7YfEfLP
— Daren Willman (@darenw) July 12, 2016
Many were using the Western Metal Supply Co. building as their target, doing a good of that, like the Warehouse at Baltimore’s Camden Yards and McCovey Cove outside the park in San Francisco. Both worked as very good targets for lefty hitters.
Both finalists, Stanton and Frazier, aren’t on the All-Star game rosters. Stanton is hitting only .233 this season, but he does have 20 home runs and 50 RBIs. With a $325 million over 13 years, he has the biggest contract in baseball, so there are some things to comfort him while he waits for an All-Star invite next year.