Sorry hitters, Dan Haren is not available to pitch in the Home Run Derby
Retired pitcher Dan Haren must have other plans for Monday, because he's not open to serving up homers
By
Mike Axisa
•
1 min read
Earlier on Thursday, MLB announced the eight players who will participate in this year's Home Run Derby. As always, the list includes some of the best sluggers in all of baseball.
Soon after the announcement, retired big leaguer and former All-Star Dan Haren let those eight players know he's not available to pitch in this year's Home Run Derby:
No I'm NOT available to pitch in the Home Run Derby monday. Don't @ me.
— dan haren (@ithrow88) July 7, 2016
Haren, who was a very very very good pitcher, was never known for his ability to keep the ball in the park. He had a career 1.1 HR/9 in over 2,400 innings, including a 1.4 HR/9 in over 700 innings during his final four seasons.
Hey, there's more than one way to be successful in baseball, and Haren did it by throwing a ton of strikes (career 1.8 BB/9) and attacking hitters. Sometimes he missed his spot. So it goes. But 204 of his 305 homers allowed were solo shots, or 66.9 percent. That's pretty good. Solo homers won't kill you.
Good luck, 2016 Home Run Derby contestants. You'll have to find someone else to pitch to you. Haren's not available.
