New format a big hit in Home Run Derby

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred was still beaming Tuesday after a revamped Home Run Derby a night earlier finally ended years of a long, boring procession to find the top slugger at the All-Star Game.

It was a crowd-pleasing event again, and not just because hometown favorite Todd Frazier thrilled the Great American Ball Park crowd, the vast majority of them Cincinnati Reds fans, by toppling Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Joc Pederson in the final, 15-14.

The new rules featured timed rounds of 4 minutes, trimmed by a minute to beat approaching thunderstorms, and bonus time for multiple homers that traveled 425 feet. The eight participants, including Texas Rangers designated hitter Prince Fielder, swatted 159 home runs, more than twice the 78 homers last year hit under the old format.

Frazier’s win might rate as the best Derby since Josh Hamilton hit 28 first-round homers in 2008 at Yankee Stadium.

“The clock made a big difference in the event,” Manfred said. “It’s not just that it moves it along. It’s that being on the clock causes the players to swing at everything. We had a dramatic increase in the number of home runs that were hit in a dramatically short event, and that is a great combination for the Home Run Derby.”

Fielder, who said that he used a bat belonging to Rangers teammate Ryan Rua during the derby, agreed with Manfred’s clock observation, saying it created more intensity. Despite being eliminated by Frazier in the first round, Fielder said that he enjoyed himself.

Frazier said that the change in format gave hitters a chance to recover from a long stretch without a homer and to rally late, as he did in all three rounds. He was a finalist in 2014, but hit only one homer before reaching 10 outs under the old format.

“You swing at everything, really, once you’re down, and no matter how much time you’ve got,” he said. “When you get the opportunity, you just have to hit it out, no matter where the ball’s pitched.”

O’Day makes it

A former Rangers waiver claim who made his 2009 club debut in a jersey that belonged to another player has come a long way, all the way to his first All-Star Game.

Now with Baltimore after the Rangers lost him on a waiver claim after an injury-plagued 2011 season, right-hander Darren O’Day has posted three straight seasons with an ERA no worse that 2.28 and is well on his way to another after posting a miniscule 1.07 first-half ERA.

He had thought that becoming an All-Star was a possibility in past seasons with middle relievers selected more regularly, and he was floored when he learned he would be on in the American League bullpen.

“I’m really glad to see that some of the middle relievers have been chosen for the team the past few years, and, obviously, I’ve been a beneficiary of that,” said O’Day, who had to wear a Kason Gabbard jersey in his first Rangers game April 22, 2009, at Toronto. “It’s such an honor to be picked out of the talent pool that we have now.”

The biggest difference in O’Day since his three seasons with the Rangers is health. He had a torn labrum in his left hip that required surgery in 2011, but has been healthy since. He has also figured out how to add more movement to both fastballs by throwing from just a little bit higher of an angle than a submariner.

Rose appears

Pete Rose, baseball’s all-time hits leader who has been banned for 26 years for gambling on games he managed, was part of the pregame festivities Tuesday at Great American Ball Park with other Reds legends.

Manfred said that he will give Rose an opportunity to appeal to him for reinstatement, but only after a complete review of the piles of evidence in the case that Rose bet on baseball in 1986. That could take a few more months.

“We’re taking a fresh look at all of that, and I remain committed to the idea that Mr. Rose deserves an opportunity to tell me … whatever he wants me to know,” Manfred said.

Rose was selected to the Reds’ Franchise Four and introduced to a huge ovation. He told Fox Sports afterward that he isn’t sure how Manfred will rule.

“I’m the one who screwed up, so I can get mad at anybody why I’m not where I belong,” Rose said.

“I’m just happy he’s willing to review my status. When I sit down with him, I’ll tell him everything I did as a player and a manager and go from there. I’ll be as honest as I can with him.”

This story was originally published July 14, 2015 at 9:31 PM with the headline "New format a big hit in Home Run Derby."