Before Josh Hamilton hit 28 home runs in the first round of the All-Star Home Run Derby (beating the previous record of 24 set in 2005 by Bobby Abreu), one of the headlines heading into the All-Star break was Alex Rodriguez's decision to skip the event because he didn't want to lose his swing.
"I've worked hard for my swing and I definitely don't want to let anything get in the way of it," Rodriguez said in a July 2 UPI interview.
Does the Derby affect sluggers in a negative way during the second half of the season? After taking a look at the batting and slugging average and at-bats/home run numbers of the participants of the past three Home Run derbies, the results are mixed.
For the most part, the Derby has had a negligible effect on players' hitting stats. Some had theirs go up or down a few points; nothing surprising in a long season.
But there are instances where players suffer drastic free falls in BA, SLG and AB/HR stats -- in 2005, Abreu went from a .307 BA to a .260, .526 SLG to a .411 and a 17.9 to a 44.2 AB/HR.
Runner-up Ivan Rodriguez's BA went from a .292 to .252 and his SLG went down from .456 to .427.
In last year's Derby, Justin Morneau entered the event with a .295 BA, .581 SLG and 13.4 AB/HR. He slipped in the second half to a less than stellar .243 BA, .384 SLG and 38.3 AB/HR.
So was A-Rod vindicated? Not quite. The Derby has also proven to rejuvenate hitters in the second half.
Mark Teixeira and Jason Bay in 2005, Ryan Howard and Miguel Cabrera in 2006 and Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder in 2007 have all experienced a second-half renaissance with their hitting stats after the Derby.
In the end, maybe superstitions win out, but the real losers in A-Rod's decision are Yankees fans who missed out on one of the game's biggest hitters participating in the Home Run Derby at Yankee Stadium.
