Tag Archives: All-Star Home Run Derby

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Awarded Record $19.9 Million in Arbitration Case Win Against Toronto Blue Jays

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Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has nearly 20 million reasons to smile…

The 24-year-old Dominican-Canadian professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter for the Toronto Blue Jays won a record $19.9 million in salary arbitration on Wednesday when a three-person panel picked his request rather than the team’s $18.05 million offer.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr.,Scott Buchheit, Walt De Treux and Jeanne Charles made the decision a day after listening to arguments. Players have a 6-2 lead in hearings this year with 10 cases pending.

Guerrero topped the previous high awarded from a hearing, the $14 million Seattle Mariners outfielder Teoscar Hernandez received after he lost last year.

A three-time MLB All-Star, Guerrero hit .264 with 26 homers and 94 RBIs last year, when he had a $14.5 million salary. He’s eligible for free agency after the 2025 season.

A son of Baseball Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, the younger Guerrero turns 25 next month. He has a .279 average with 130 homers and 404 RBIs in five seasons with the Blue Jays.

Guerrero’s best season was in 2021, when he tied for the major league lead with 48 home runs and hit .311 with 111 RBIs. He earned a Gold Glove in 2022 and won last year’s MLB All-Star Home Run Derby at Seattle, matching the feat of his father in 2007 at San Francisco.

Pujols to Participate in This Year’s All-Star Home Run Derby

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Albert Pujols is coming out swinging…

The 35-year-old Dominican professional baseball player has announced that he’ll take part in this year’s All-Star Home Run Derby.

Albert Pujols

Pujols, the Los Angeles Angels‘ first baseman, says he talked with Major League Baseball and confirmed he’ll be one of the hitters for the event Monday in Cincinnati.

The All-Star Game is the next night.

“I’m going to give it one last chance,” Pujols said Tuesday. “The good thing with Major League Baseball is they allow us to bring our kids onto the field on practice day so they’ll be able to enjoy that. They’ll have a great time and meet the players they get to watch every day.”

Pujols said he wanted to be a part of the competition after being picked for the AL All-Star team this week. He’ll start in place of Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera, who went on the disabled list for the first time in his career with a strained calf.

Pujols declined to be in the Home Run Derby last year because he wasn’t playing in the All-Star Game.

“You want to be in the game,” he said. “That’s the most important thing because you want to be able to have a chance to help the American League have home field advantage.”

This will be Pujols’ fourth time competing in the Home Run Derby. He reached the semifinal in 2003, 2007 and 2009 but has never won the event.

He said he’s looking forward to the new format. Instead of being given a number of outs per round each player will have five minutes to hit as many home runs as possible. The clock will stop after home run balls land in the final minute.

Players can earn an extra minute if they hit two home runs that land 420 feet or more and 30 seconds for each blast that lands 475 feet or more. The maximum bonus time a player can get is 1:30.

“If anything it’ll be better because you don’t have to sit around so much like you did in the past,” he said. “If I hit in the first round we had to wait until everybody hit and sometimes you sat an hour and a half, two hours.”

Pujols entered Tuesday leading the American League with 25 home runs.