This Monday a new edition of the Home Run Derby will take place from Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Where the confrontation of the Venezuelan Ronald Acuña Jr. and the current two-time champion Pete Alonso, will put the attendees at the Chavez Ravine arena in total expectation.
Just as in 2019, the Venezuelan patrolman who will receive shipments from Tomás Pérez, current Braves infield instructor, will face the Mets first baseman again, but this time in the first round. In that confrontation three years ago, it was Alonso who prevailed and advanced to the final round, connecting 20 shots; one more than the native of La Sabana.
However, on this occasion; Acuña comes into the Derby after hitting eight homers in the first half of this season, which is far less than the 21 he had in the first half of that season.
Similarly, the Venezuelan is listed as one of the most powerful hitters in the Majors today. Proof of that is his 13 home runs over 450 feet since 2018, which rank him with the second-most feature-length home runs over that distance during that span.
Likewise, Acuña Jr. is one of 25 shovelers with 113 or more homers in the regular season since 2018 and in his career he registers, according to Statcast, a maximum distance of 117.9 miles per hour and a percentage of strong connections of 49.5%.
However, it should be noted that the Venezuelan is not yet in his best form. Well, he missed almost the entire first month of the campaign and all of his team’s spring training, as he was recovering from a knee operation that took place in July of last year and kept him sidelined from the pitch for several months.
For its part, the Latin flavor will be very present in this tablazo contest, as four other representatives of the subcontinent; in addition to Acuña, all of them born in the Dominican Republic, will be hitting Dodger Stadium.
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Source: The Leader.
