How I Would Redesign the Home Run Derby

Or, how to make watching big men launch baseballs into the stratosphere a marginally more fun watch

Fully recognizing that these sorts of "redesigns" are a bit silly. The constraints placed on events (and any design) like these are often completely hidden from viewers. Things like contractual constraints the athletes might have, the need to placate certain sponsors, and the timing for fans at the stadium all come to mind as things that I don't have any particular insight for.

I actually quite enjoy the spectacle of it all. It was wonderful watching Oneil Cruz absolutely destroy the ball. That said, I think the Home Derby kinda drags along. Not because it's boring, but because the format is somewhat poor for creating a lot of tension. I also think it's turning into a bit of a "lock into one spot on the stadium and just do your best to hit that spot over and over again", which... isn't really why it's fun to watch, I don' think. So here are the changes I would make.

Scoring

It's super clear that MLB wants to show off just how fancy their Statcast technology is. If we're comfortable differentiating on .08 of a foot, let's use it to score!

I would update the scoring so that you scored based on how far you hit. A home run is still worth 1 point of course, but hitters should score an additional .2 points for every 50 feet beyond the wall you hit. This would make a 500 foot home run close to twice as valuable as a normal home run. Which feels right. If that math is confusing just make a home run 10 points and the additional points 2. The point is to mash the ball here.

Aside: I guess the argument against here is we’re trying to track how many home runs they hit. But I’m not sure if that’s even true. The only thing I remember is Julio Rodriguez hitting an absolutely ungodly number of home runs in the first round a couple of years ago and then flaming out because he was exhausted.

First Round

The first round is exceedingly boring, takes a long time and mostly seems to tire the best players out before the actual challenge rounds take place. This is absolutely silly. Why is the first round the longest?

I would make the first round batting time 1 minute¹, no limit on pitches and no bonus. Top 3 move along to the next round. Bottom 5 compete in another 1 minute competition with the top scoring taking the final spot.

Aside: This would've definitely hurt Cal's chances this year, and as a Seattle Mariners fan I guess I'm happy these purely hypothetical rules would only go into effect next year.

The players in the top 3 get rewarded for mashing the ball, the bottom 5 still spend less (or equal) time hitting overall.

Second Round

The Second Round I would mostly keep the same as it is (head to head) with two minutes, a pitch limit and the three bonus “strikes”. I would get rid of the "hit it past 425 feet" thing though, it's silly. (And I think everyone easily cleared it this year?). Just give them more points for hitting it farther Keep at at 3, use the time savings to make the final round great.

Final Round

Here are my most aggressive changes. Keep it at 2 minutes, but alternate after a set amount of time. I want to see a hit off, not one guy waiting to see if he wins or loses. This is almost certainly the most logistically challenging, but it would create the most tension. Everyone loves lead changes!

I would do something like:

Player One: 30 seconds

Player Two: 60 seconds

Player One: 60 seconds

Player Two: 60 seconds + Bonus

Player One: 30 seconds + Bonus

This would give the higher ranked player a distinct advantage, while limiting the overall number of pitching changes. I'm quite positive the players would hate this (and thus it would never happen) because it means warming up and getting out of their rhythm, but it would be nice to see a closer head to head and more dramatic tension at the end.

Bonus

I loved the side chats with the "teams". I think we gotta make that more exciting if they had a role to play. What if after the huddle a team member got to pick a section of the stands and if their guy hit it to that section they got double points?

Double Bonus

I would also give players a bonus for the longest distance between hits. Let's reward guys who ding it to every corner of the park.

That’s all

Basically I want to make this more fun and silly. And if I were given a chance that’s what I’d do.

Next week we’ll get back to our regularly scheduled fair talking about “concise” games!

1. We can make it 1:30 if you really want.