Monday night’s Home Run Derby in Miami features a bit of a rarity for the event: teammates compeing against one another. In this case, it’s young Yankees sluggers Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, as well as the Marlins’ Giancarlo Stanton and Justin Bour.
Since 2000, teammate pairs have swung against each other in the annual night before the midsummer classic tradition just five times. And while Judge and Sanchez both will be on the same American League side for the event’s AL vs. NL format, they will be trying to outdo one another to win it all.
Marlins Park isn’t the biggest in baseball. The outfield wall is as shallow as 335 feet down the right field line and goes as deep as 407 to dead center. In other words, both Baby Bombers should feel comfortable knocking it out of the park.
Read on for a breakdown of the two Yanks’ chances in the Derby.
Aaron Judge
Height: 6-7
Weight: 282 lbs.
ABs: 301
BA: .329
HRs: 30
RBIs: 66
All rise for the clear favorite in this bout.
Judge, with 30 homers, eclipsed Joe DiMaggio’s franchise mark for a rookie, and he’s far from done launching souvenirs into the stands this year. Baseball’s home run leader overcame a relatively quiet late-June, early-July with three homers in his last five games.
The 25-year-old Judge’s homers average an exit velocity of around 110 mph-plus, and his 495-foot blast against the Orioles in June was the longest of the season. Four of his hardest hit homers all averaged an exit velocity of faster than 118 mph, and three of them went more than 430 feet.
Gary Sanchez
Height: 6-2
Weight: 230 lbs.
ABs: 214
BA: .276
HRs: 13
RBIs: 40
Although the 24-year-old has the potential to be a power hitter in a similar regard to Judge, Sanchez has yet to flex his power as consistently as the Yankees’ titanic outfielder.
Next to Judge, Sanchez is an underdog. But don’t be fooled; the catcher showed last season he can swat. Beginning with his Aug. 3 call-up, the “Sanchino” hit 20 home runs and 42 RBIs and was runner-up for AL Rookie of the Year.
Although Sanchez has hit fewer home runs (13) this year thanks in part to missing most of April due to injury, he has as many multi-homer games as Judge (2). Against the Red Sox on June 8, both of Sanchez’s blasts traveled at least 400 feet and had an exit velocity of about 109 mph.
