By DJ Harding
Vladamir Guerrero Jr of the Toronto Blue Jays went from watching his dad Vladamir Guerrero Sr win the Home Run Derby in 2007 to coming close in 2019, to now Home Run Derby Champion.
Guerrero Jr with the Derby win makes him and his dad the first father son duo to win the Home Run Derby.
The eight batters in the competition were Vladamir Guerrero Jr, Pete Alonso, Luis Robert Jr,, Randy Arozarena, Mookie Betts, Julio Rodriguez, Adley Rutschman, and Adoldis Garcia.
Randy Arozarena seeded number 5 and Adoldis Garcia seeded number 4 faced off in round 1 in what was a St.Louis Cardinals reunion.
Both Arozarena and Garcia played with each other on the Cardinals while now both reside on different teams. Arozarena on the Tampa Bay Rays and Garcia on the Texas Rangers.
Arozarena batted first hitting 24 homers which topped his former teammate who hit 17 homers.
Luis Robert Jr of the Chicago White Sox then took on Adley Rutschman from the Baltimore Orioles.
Adley Rutschman showed off his switch hitting skills while hitting 27 home runs. Robert Jr then topped Rutschman’s 27 homer performance with 28 to advance to round 2.
Mookie Betts then stepped in the batters box after Robert Jr hitting a Derby low 11 home runs which was topped by Guerrero Jr who he faced off against in round 1. Guerrero hit 26 home runs to advance to round 2.
Julio Rodríguez then shocked the world by hitting 41 home runs in round 1 which set the record for most in a round that was previously held by Vladimir Guerrero Jr who hit 40 in 2019.
Pete Alonso, a two time derby champ couldn’t keep up with Rodríguez and got eliminated by him for the second straight year.
Round 2 saw Arozarena hit 35 home runs which was more than Robert Jr hit at 22 sending Arozarena to the finals.
Rodriguez couldn’t keep up the power of round 1 going from 41 home runs to 20. Rodriguez was then topped by Guerrero Jr who hit 21 home runs.
Guerrero Jr then got a five minute break before having to hit in the finals hitting 25 home runs.
Arozarena made it close but didn’t get enough with 23 home runs.
Guerro Jr captured his first Derby Championship after setting the record for most homers in a round (40) and in a single derby (91) in a loss in 2019.
Rodriguez now holds the record for most in a round with (41) but Guerrero still holds record for the most in one derby with 91.