The Home Run Derby on Monday night in Miami is becoming reminiscent of a highly anticipated heavyweight bout _ especially if the main event pairs Aaron Judge with defending Derby champ and hometown favorite Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins.
In the year of the home run, the Derby appears to be overshadowing the All-Star Game, which will be played Tuesday.
It's all about the tale of the tape measure when comparing the height of Judge (6-foot-7) and Stanton (6-6), the mammoth home runs they have hit and the damage some have rendered.
A Stanton home run broke the auxiliary scoreboard when Marlins Park opened in 2012. One of Judge's shot in batting practice this season claimed a flat screen television in the outfield terrace and one earlier this week dented the left centerfield wall in Yankee Stadium.
"Stanton's been larger than life and this guy's bigger than Stanton," said Joe Frisaro, who covers the Marlins for MLB.com. "I think Stanton, deep down there's a little fire in him to say, 'Hey, look, everyone is talking about the kid but don't forget me.' "
The Derby could also bring a ratings bonanza for ESPN. The event peaked at 9.1 million viewers in 1998. The anticipation for this year's Home Run Derby on ESPN is definitely high, vice president of programming Julie Sobieski said in an email.
"It's difficult to predict where this will rank among the most-watched Home Run Derby telecasts, but we are confident that this year's event will be very popular," she said.
Judge has been trying to downplay his appearance.
"I'm just going to take normal, I'm not going to try to change anything," Judge said Wednesday after hitting his major-league leading 29th homer, which tied him with Joe DiMaggio for the club record for a rookie. "Nothing should change. I felt like my BPs, everything felt good, nice easy swings, not too hard, I'm going to drive them out to right center and left. I'm not going to try and change anything."
But Judge's Yankees teammates know what he wants to do.
"He's going to go out there and he's going to give the people what they want," rookie outfielder Clint Frazier said. "It's going to be his moment to show people how far he can hit a baseball."
Brett Gardner added, "We get excited to see just how far he hits them, how hard he can hit the baseball. Off the bat you don't know how far it's going to go, it just keeps going."
Judge and Stanton's batting practice pitchers have been getting some hype, too. The Yankees had so many requests to speak with Danilo Valiente that they will hold a news conference of sorts with him Friday. Stanton wants to have Pat Shine, a former Marlins coach, come back to help him defend his title.
Stanton is seeded first in the eight-player Derby and will face eighth-seed and Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez, so a Sanchez-Judge teammate matchup may be a long shot. The Stanton-Sanchez winner faces either the Royals' Mike Moustakas or Miguel Sano of the Twins. That winner goes to the final round. Judge opposes the Marlins' Justin Bour in the first round while Cody Bellinger of the Dodgers meets the Rockies' Charlie Blackmon. Frisaro said Marlins Park has played more favorably to left-handed hitters, so Moustakas, Blackmon, Bellinger and Bour could have an advantage.
Stanton's been eying Judge from afar for awhile.
"Earlier in the year he bristled over Judge," Frisaro said. "Part of that was Stanton was 20 years old when he broke in and the league wouldn't allow him to have center stage. Wait your turn, that type of thing ... It was like, '[It's] only been in the league a couple of weeks.' Stanton is impressed by power, he's impressed by power hitters."
Judge said he used to watch the Home Run Derby with his family. His favorite participant was Barry Bonds.
"It was just incredible," he said. "I've never seen anything like that. It was must-see TV."
Did Judge think he'd be involved as a player?
"You dream about it," he said. "You're just a young kid dreaming about it, really."
