Real talk: The Home Run Derby doesn't ruin swings. Most of the players in the Derby are just doing what they do in batting practice on a daily basis anyway. 

Still, there's a decent contingent of baseball fandom that is terrified players from their favorite team are going to take part in the Home Run Derby because the narrative says it ruins players. The big example is Bobby Abreu, who participated in the 2005 Home Run Derby, and he's not even a prototypical masher anyway.

For the most part, players in the Home Run Derby had a big first half, so if they have a down second half it's just an evening out, not some sort of cryptic proof that it was the Derby's fault. Ask Giancarlo Stanton how his second half went after the Derby last year. 

All this is to say that I get pretty giddy when I see a player not only thrive in the second half after the Derby, but credit it with helping him. 

Take a bow, Phillies star Rhys Hoskins! 

Hoskins was hitting .252/.363/.456 with 14 homers at the All-Star break. Then he took part in the Home Run Derby and actually had a nice run to the second round. 

Since the break, Hoskins is hitting .345/.441/1.069 with six homers in seven games. 

Taking that small sample and declaring the Derby fixed him would be just as foolish as saying it ruined someone who hasn't yet hit a homer since taking part. However, Hoskins says the Derby helped him. From the team's website on July 25:

"100 percent," Hoskins said, asked if hitting in the Derby helped. "I think it kind of forced me to be aggressive to the pull side. I haven't done that very well this year. For whatever reason, I've been a little more passive on the inner-half of the plate. In the Derby, I was able to pull balls more true and keep the ball a lot straighter instead of hooking the ball. It seems to be carrying over."

Thank you, Rhys. 

I don't care if the Derby helped him or not, really, but I'm a big believer in the Crash Davis school of thought. That is, if Hoskins thinks he's hot because he took part in the Derby, that's why. 

Hopefully the Home Run Derby Truthers are paying attention instead of continuing to point to an anomaly from 13 years ago.