It’s a tough time to be a baseball fan. Since the MLB lockout came into effect on December 1st there has been hardly anything going on, and as someone who eats, sleeps, and breathes baseball this month has gone by at a snail’s pace. No free agent signings, no trades, and no interactions between the league, their players, and the media whatsoever. Because of this labour dispute the MLB doesn’t even have the rights to use the image and likeness of players, so everyone’s headshot has been removed from MLB.com. Seriously. Roughned Odor has never looked so good.
BK kid @P_lo21_ brought an NYC themed bat pic.twitter.com/LEPvv9cgrC
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) December 18, 2021
This is why when I heard that there was a home run derby taking place in the Bahamas this past weekend I dropped everything I had to check it out. The Don’t Blink Home Run Derby in Paradise was held on Montague Beach in Nassau on Saturday, and it featured a lineup of current major league and minor league players.
There were two teams determined by a draft and the first overall selection was Jazz Chisholm Jr., a shortstop for the Miami Marlins and a hometown favourite as the only current Bahamian in the Majors. Other participants included New York Mets 1B/OF Dom Smith, Detroit Tigers OF Akil Baddoo, and Josh Palacios who appeared in 13 games this season with the Toronto Blue Jays. Not many household names but a bunch of dudes who are fully capable of hitting tanks.
Jazz hitting BOMBS into the ocean 🌊
(via @CespedesBBQ)pic.twitter.com/tAvaD6q9PO
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) December 19, 2021
And these guys had perhaps the nicest backdrop EVER to hit such tanks. I thought the view from home plate at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, my favourite MLB ballpark, was cool but the site for this home run derby had it beat by a country mile. You have the hitters standing on a platform on the beach hitting baseballs into the ocean, using a red line in the water to determine whether it’s a bomb or not. Absolutely incredible.
Chisholm Jr. put on a show, and coming off a rookie season in which he hit 18 dingers for the Marlins he had as good of a chance as anyone to win it. He was swinging so hard he broke his chain, and then hit six straight bombs. Chisholm Jr. is one of the most electric players in all of baseball, and he had the home crowd in his corner as he kept blasting baseballs into the Atlantic.
Jazz snapped his diamond chain on his first swing. Casually laid it on the ground. Immediately homered. Hit 6 homers and got so amped that he left the chain behind. pic.twitter.com/92twoteCvg
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) December 18, 2021
But for as many dingers as Jazz hit, minor leaguer MJ Melendez hit even more. The Kansas City Royals’ fourth-highest ranked prospect was hitting MOONSHOTS, and it was a pleasure to watch. He hit 44 homers this past season as a catcher in AA and AAA, and he’s only 22 years old. His power definitely translates to the big leagues and I’d put my money on him hitting nukes in the MLB Home Run Derby someday.
MJ Melendez most impressive show thus far. 5 homers in 8 swings. pic.twitter.com/BRQwh4sxBC
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) December 18, 2021
Since they’ve held this annual event since 2018 there’s perhaps no one who’s lit up the scene quite like Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette. The flow god was a back-to-back champion while he was still in the minors with the Jays, and went back the next year as a mic’ed up fan. I don’t think there’s any single ballplayer who embodies a home run derby on a tropical island as much as Bo.
December has sucked for baseball fans but there’s nothing that gets me going like a home run derby in a picturesque setting. Talk about a phenomenal sporting event. The home run derby is one of the most entertaining things you’ll watch as a sports fan and this one on a beach in the Bahamas was on a whole other level. You don’t get many opportunities to see professional athletes excelling at their abilities in such a relaxed, fun environment and this home run derby knocked it out of the park.
Major League Baseball and commissioner Rob Manfred needs to create more opportunities to showcase their sport in a way that promotes it in such an awesome way like the Field of Dreams game and this Don’t Blink Home Run Derby in Paradise did. This just gets me even more fired up for the 2022 season.
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