The All-Star Game’s Home Run Derby is at Busch Stadium, so, naturally, Albert Pujols is probably the favorite. He has 32 dingers this season, 16 of which come at his home ball park. One thing is for sure, the Triple Crown candidate will be a fan favorite, too. The situation is almost scripted for the big slugger to win the derby at his own park.
Heading into tonight’s homer derby, Brandon Inge is defintely the biggest underdog. In fact, Vegas odds confirms this: Lasvegassports-odds.com lists Inge as its biggest underdog of the Derby’s eight participants, with odds to win at +950, which means a bet of $100 could earn the bettor $950 if Inge were to win. The favorite, St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols, is a +200.
Just a year ago, Inge couldn’t get a hit to save his life, let alone a home run. He finished the 2008 season with a .205 BA and just 11 Home Runs. Half way through this season, he is amongst the Top 11 in all of baseball in home runs with 21.
Inge got a nice practice for the derby as for the 5th time in Brandon Inge’s career he hit back-to-back home runs in a game on Sunday afternoon. Joining him on Monday night from the AL will be Carlos Pena (24), Nelson Cruz (22), and Joe Mauer (15). Representing the NL will be Albert Pujols (a lot), Adrian Gonzalez (24), Ryan Howard (22), and Prince Fielder (22).
A topic of discussion that is not touched on enough is the person throwing to these hitters. I imagine most MLB batting practice pitchers can put the ball over the plate for a hitter to hit it, but can he put it on the sweet spot to give his hitter the best opportunity to hit it out with every swing? That is sometimes the difference maker.
As you know, or you should know, the Home Run derby is also not all about who can hit the most HRs overall. If you recall last year’s big event, Josh Hamilton hit a record 28 homers in the first round and lost. In the end, he had 13 more home runs than the winner, Justin Morneau. If you don’t know how the derby works, then I suggest you read a girl’s description of what the home run derby is and how it works.
Anyway, I crunched some numbers, and I’ve created a list of pitchers Brandon Inge wouldn’t mind seeing throw to him on derby day based solely on pitchers he has the best AB:HR ratio against. Yeah, the sample sizes are extremely small and, ultimately, Inge will receive pitches from the Tigers bullpen catcher Scott Pickens, but this was a fun list to compile anyway. If nothing else, you might be interested in learning who Inge has homered against in very limited at bats, there are some big names:
Odalis Perez- 1 HR in 4 ABs
Jessie Litsche- 1 HR in 4 ABs
Carlos Zambrano- 1 HR in 3 ABs
Jake Peavy- 1 HR in 3 ABs
Garrett Olson- 1 HR in 3 ABs
Kazuo Fukomori- 1 HR in 2 ABs
Jason Anderson- 1 HR in 2 ABs
Billy Wagner- 1 HR in 2 ABs
Yovani Gallardo- 1 HR in 2 ABs
Jose Valverde- 1 HR in 2 ABs
Tomo Ohka- 1 HR in 2 ABs
C.J. Wilson- 1 HR in 1 AB
Mike Gosling- 1 HR in 1 AB
Sendy Rleal- 1 HR in 1 AB (grand slam)
Omar Daal- 2 HR in 2 ABs
(I had a plan to insert the Pittsburgh Pirates or Washington Nationals pitching staff in here for kicks and giggles, but upon research, it came as a surprise to me to see that the Pirates have actually given up the sixth least home runs in the MLB this season and the Nationals are ninth. The team that has given up the most home runs this season is surprisingly, the defending champs, the Philadelphia Phillies.)
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