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Rangers slugger Joey Gallo was thought to be one of the more intriguing options for the Home Run Derby, which takes place in Marlins Park a week from Monday. He entered Saturday with 21 home runs and has as much raw power as anyone this side of Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. 

Gallo was invited to participate, but he declined for a remarkably self-aware reason. Via The Dallas Morning News: 

"I don't feel comfortable doing it right now in my career," he said. "I just want to put my head down and do what I need to do to get better. If I get a little more well-rounded as a hitter, I'd like to do it. But I'm not an All-Star and I respect that you should earn it. Others deserve it more than me.

"You look at what some of the other guys are doing and there are discrepancies there between us. I just don't feel like I belong at an event like that. And a bunch of upper cut swings right now, probably isn't what I need."

We noted the home runs above, but Gallo likely references stuff like him entering Saturday with a .194 batting average and leading the majors with 107 strikeouts. 

Now, I still would have loved to see him take part in the Derby because it doesn't matter that he's not an All-Star and he'd put on one hell of a show. It's also nice to see a young player seemingly motivating himself to become a more well-rounded hitter. Perhaps he works out some of the issues and we see him take part in the 2018 or 2019 Derby.

As for 2017, we've still got a shot at a Judge vs. Stanton finals. That would be more than OK.