Get ready for the T-Mobile Home Run Derby with each slugger's deepest drive of 2016
The players set to take part in this season's T-Mobile Home Run Derby were announced on Thursday, and it's a pretty potent list of power hitters.
So much power: Presenting the 2016 @TMobile #HRDerby bracket! 💪💪💪 pic.twitter.com/dwtD7Z9H7e
— MLB (@MLB) July 7, 2016
This wide array of sluggers is set to square off at Petco Park on Monday, July 11, the day before the Midsummer Classic.
To get you appropriately amped up to watch some of the game's most gifted smack baseballs around the crisp summer San Diego air, here's a look at each participant's longest home run of the 2016 campaign so far.
Mark Trumbo -- Baltimore Orioles, 458 feet
After swatting two more long balls in the O's series with the Dodgers this week, Trumbo now has a league-high 26 as he gears up for the Derby. While nearly all of Trumbo's power demonstrations are noteworthy, his longest to date this season was the second of two he clubbed back on June 2 in Baltimore, a 458-footer:
Corey Seager -- Los Angeles Dodgers, 440 feet
Los Angeles' star rookie, Seager earned his way onto the NL. reserves list with a stellar first half that has put him firmly in the Rookie of the Year discussion -- and he's also hit 17 round-trippers along the way.
His most impressive to date came on June 13, a 440-foot rocket hit off Zack Greinke that sailed over the pool in right-center at Chase Field:
Robinson Cano --Seattle Mariners, 427 feet
Cano will try to reprise his 2011 Derby title in San Diego on the strength of a fine season with the M's. As it stands right now, he's collected 20 homers, which is just one shy of his season total a year ago ... so it's safe to say he's seeing the ball pretty well in 2016. He proved that back on June 9 with this 427-foot shot into the right-field seats at Safeco Field:
Giancarlo Stanton -- Miami Marlins, 475 feet
The man who will no doubt ride into the Derby as most folks' pick to win the competition, Stanton brings quite a resume of ridiculousness into the proceedings. Stanton's fifth-best home run this season, a 439-foot bomb hit earlier this week on a day he also hit his third-longest, was longer than most of the other Derby participants' No. 1's ... which ought to tell you something right there.
As for Stanton's most absurd homer, well, this 475-foot rainmaker hit back on May 6 should hopefully be a preview of what's to come next week:
Adam Duvall -- Cincinnati Reds, 457 feet
Duvall has already had a breakout campaign for the Reds this season, and he's been such a revelation he earned a spot to his first All-Star Game as a result. He'll carry that momentum to the national stage in San Diego, where he'll try to replicate this 457-foot blast hit back on May 22:
Wil Myers -- San Diego Padres, 453 feet
Padres fans lucky enough to score a ticket to the Derby will be able to root on their hometown star, Myers, who has bounced back nicely from some injuries to earn a spot on the NL roster. He's also no stranger to booming home runs, having walloped this one 453 feet into the Coors Field shrubbery on April 9:
Todd Frazier -- Chicago White Sox, 427 feet
Lest you forget, Frazier won the 2015 Derby as a member of the Reds on the the strength of a last-minute, buzzer-beating barrage of power. Count him out at your peril, because he's definitely well-versed in the art of Derby success.
His longest homer so far as a member of the White Sox, a 427-footer hit on May 31, gives you an idea of how effortless his power stroke can be:
Carlos Gonzalez -- Colorado Rockies, 459 feet
CarGo rounds out the Derby lineup as a potential dark-horse candidate to win it all. His sweet swing has made him one of the NL's premier hitters for a while now, and if he's able to get everything moving as it should, he just may have a chance to replicate his longest homer of 2016, a 459-foot no-doubter clubbed on May 30:
This year's Derby group is an eclectic bunch. All eight of them are capable of hitting the ball over the fence, and a few of them -- Stanton, Gonzalez, Trumbo and Duvall specifically -- have multiple blasts of more than 450 feet this season.
Petco Park is a notoriously difficult stadium in which to hit home runs, but we'll go out on a limb and make the prediction that this won't be the case during the T-Mobile Home Run Derby next week.
