The home run derby of Stars game will have a special Dominican flavor this Monday, with four representatives from Quisquey looking to keep the title of champions.
the slugger Albert Pujolswho enters the midseason break with 685 career home runs, the most by an entrant in home run competition.
It will be the fifth Home Run Derby for Pujols, joining Ken Griffey Jr., Mark McGwire, Prince Fielder, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and David Ortiz. as the only ones to rack up those totals.
Pujols has never won it, the others have won at least once. He will face Kyle Schwarber to seek his place in the second round.
John Sotoof the Washington Nationals and who hit a 520-foot shot at Coors Field in 2021, will face his compatriot Jose Ramirezof the Cleveland Indians.
Both players entered the midseason break with 19 homers and high expectations.
On the other side of the key, Pete Alonso, of the New York Mets and reigning champion will face Ronald Acuña, of the Atlanta Braves.
Alonso has hit 24 homers this season, while Venezuelan Acuña has only eight.
The other first round clash will be played by Corey Seager, of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Dominican Julius Rodriguezof the Seattle Mariners.
Seager has gone to the street 22 times this year, while rookie Rodriguez has 16 to date.
520 feet apart
walked one of Juan Soto’s home runs in last year’s Home Run Derby.
Dominican home run champions
One of the four Dominican participants hopes to end a drought of more than a decade without a crown from the home run derby for the Dominican Republic.
In fact, only five Quisqueyans have won the competition prior to the Stars game.
The first to conquer it was Sammy Sosa, in the Stars game 2000, held at Turner Field in Atlanta.
Then, four years later, Miguel Tejada won the title, at the festivities at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
It took only three years for Vladimir Guerrero to win the prize, in the home run derby of AT&T Park, San Francisco.
Meanwhile, David Ortiz did it in 2010, when the Stars game It was played at Angel Stadium in Anaheim.
Robinson Canó was the last to conquer the home run derbyin 2011, with his father pitching to him in the Chase Field Home Run Competition.