Last Addition To AL Home Run Derby Team Makes Lasting Impression
By Sean Stanfield
(KHTK , Sports 1140) Many fans believed that the AL West leading Oakland Athletics had several roster players overlooked in the All Star vote. Nobody will overlook the new Home Run Derby champ and second year outfielder for the A's now.
Yoenis Cespedes was the last member added to the Monday night Home Run Derby contest. It didn't take him very long to reward American League team captain Robinson Cano. "I said, 'Let me choose somebody that's not in the All-Star [Game] so he can get an opportunity to be here,'" Cano said earlier in the day. "He accepted."
No, he dominated.
Cespedes jumped out to a huge lead with seventeen home runs in the first round (tied for third all time in a single round). For good measure, many of his shots landed in the third deck at Citi Field.
"The key is not to get ahead of yourself," Cespedes told ESPN through interpreter Pedro Gomez, "not to get accelerated, to wait for a pitch you can handle."
In true Athletics fashion, Cespedes ended the competition with a walk-off blast for hist 9th home run in the final round, defeating Bryce Harper.
