NATIONAL FINALISTS FOR PITCH, HIT & RUN PROGRAM PRESENTED BY SCOTTS

  The 24 national finalists in the 2015 Major League Baseball Pitch, Hit & Run program presented by Scotts, the official youth skills competition of Major League Baseball, were announced yesterday live on MLB Tonight on MLB Network. These 24 boys and girls will compete at the National Finals and participate in activities during MLB All-Star Week.

The competition will take place on the field at Great American Ball Park on Monday, July 13th at 3 p.m. ET prior to Gatorade All-Star Workout Day featuring the 2015 Gillette Home Run Derby presented by Head & Shoulders. Beginning in March, approximately 625,000 youth participated in over 4,400 competitions that took place across North America. Scotts, the "Official Lawn Care Company of Major League Baseball," is in its third year sponsoring the grassroots program. Aquafina, the "Official Bottled Water of Major League Baseball," is also a supporting sponsor of the program. Two former Pitch, Hit & Run National Finalists -- Eric Hosmer of the Kansas City Royals and Chris Parmelee of the Baltimore Orioles -- have reached the Major Leagues.

              A complete list of finalists is below.

              Pitch, Hit & Run (PHR) invites youth to demonstrate their skills by competing in pitching, hitting and running competitions. PHR participants advance through four levels of competition, beginning at the local level, which is hosted by organizations, leagues, or volunteers within a community, and continuing through sectional and team competitions. All 30 MLB Clubs hosted team championships at their ballparks on weekends from May 30th through June 28th. The top three competitors nationwide from each age group (7-­8, 9-­10, 11-­12 and 13-­14) advanced to the 2015 Major League Baseball Pitch, Hit & Run program presented by Scotts National Finals.

               The skills competition is part of the "PLAY BALL" initiative between Major League Baseball and USA Baseball, which encourages widespread participation in all forms of baseball activities among all age groups, especially youth. The new program highlights the many ways baseball can be played, including outside of the traditionally organized baseball leagues and tournaments, ranging from playing catch, stickball and Wiffle ball to participating in skills competitions like Pitch, Hit & Run. The initiative also provides players, parents and coaches with information and resources to help find events and leagues as well as proper play and instruction through PlayBall.org.

The 2015 All-Star Game will be played at Great American Ball Park on Tuesday, July 14th. The 86th All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX Sports; in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS; and worldwide by partners in more than 160 countries. ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide exclusive national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. MLB Network, MLB.com and Sirius XM also will provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information, please visit allstargame.com.

About ScottsMiracle-Gro

With more than $2.8 billion in worldwide sales, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company is the world's largest marketer of branded consumer products for lawn and garden care. The Company's brands are the most recognized in the industry. In the U.S., the Company's Scotts®, Miracle-Gro® and Ortho® brands are market-leading in their categories, as is the consumer Roundup® brand, which is marketed in North America and most of Europe exclusively by Scotts and owned by Monsanto. In the U.S., we operate Scotts LawnService®, the second largest residential lawn care service business. In Europe, the Company's brands include Weedol®, Pathclear®, Evergreen®, Levington®, Miracle-Gro®, KB®, Fertiligène® and Substral®. For additional information, visit us at www.scotts.com.

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Contacts: Sarah Leer, Major League Baseball, (212) 931-7878, twitter.com/mlb_pr

                  Chris Strunk, Scotts, (937) 578-5472