White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier will get a chance to defend his title. If he can repeat, Frazier would become only the second player to win home run derby titles with two different teams. Prince Fielder won with Milwaukee in 2009 and Texas in 2012.
Frazier was acquired in the off season in a blockbuster trade with the Dodgers and Reds. The White Sox sent top prospects Trayce Thompson, Micah Johnson and Frankie Montas to the Dodgers and the Dodgers sent prospects to Cincinnati.
Frazier’s season has not lived up to the excitement the trade generated when it was announced. He is second in the American League in home runs with 23. Baltimore’s Mark Trumbo leads the AL with 26.
Despite the impressive home runs figure, the rest of Frazier’s stats are far below what was expected of Frazier. He’s currently 20th in the AL in RBIs. He’s ahead of his home run and RBI projections, but the rest of his metrics are disconcerting.
"Frazier won last year with the help of his brothers. Per White Sox.Com Frazier had “Charlie, throwing to him, and another brother, Jeff, serving as his “hype man,”"
This should be an interesting home run derby. The all-star game was in hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati last season. This year it is at Petco Park in San Diego which is not as hitter friendly. Great American ranks seventh this year in home runs per game, while Petco is fourteenth.
Frazier received the second seed in the bracket. Trumbo is the one seed. Frazier will face the seventh seed, the Rockies Carlos Gonzalez in the first round. There was talk throughout the off season and into spring training that Gonzalez might be a White Sox trade target to improve the team’s power.
Here are the participants and bracket for Monday's T-Mobile Home Run Derby. pic.twitter.com/N3TWIKUy4M
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) July 7, 2016
If Frazier defeats Gonzalez, he would have an interesting second round match-up. Waiting would be his former Reds teammate Adam Duvall or the Padres hometown favorite Will Myers.
Robinson Cano is the only other player in the home run derby field that has won before. He captured the 2011 crown at Chase Field in Phoenix. Myers, Duvall and the Dodgers Cory Seager will be making their home run derby debuts.
Frazier becomes the fifth White Sox to compete and first since Jermaine Dye. Frank Thomas is the only White Sox to have competed more than once and the only White Sox to have won home run derby. He captured the 1995 title at the Ballpark at Arlington.
Next: White Sox: Chris Sale Selected to Fifth Consecutive All-Star Team
The Baseballcube.com lists the White Sox all-time participants and how they performed in home run derby.