July 14--Anthony Rizzo started off the Home Run Derby in his matchup with Josh Donaldson with eight homers, kicking off a derby with strange new rules that took some time to get used to.
Rizzo had four minutes to hit as many long balls as he could, with no outs to worry about. He started off by getting out in front of most of his early pitches, not getting anything over the fence for the first minute.
He took his 45 second timeout, and then visibly settled down, getting his first home run with 2:46 left and then breaking out for six more.
Due to the new rules, he received 30 seconds of bonus time for hitting two home runs of 425 feet. He connected for one more homer in that time.
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Despite tornado watches and flash flood warnings, the sky has cleared over Cincinnati for the Home Run Derby. The rule changes to condense the event will still be in effect: four minutes on a running clock for each batter, and 30 extra seconds for two home runs over 425 feet.
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As if the rule changes weren't enough, now rain has complicated the Home Run Derby even more.
Cincinnati has hosted the All-Star game once, in 1988, since the Home Run Derby began in 1985. That year has the distinction of being the only time over the past 30 years the Derby was cancelled by rain. Tonight, the forecast calls for rain and thunderstorms. The area is under a flash-flood watch until 8 p.m. EDT, when the Derby is scheduled to start.
Major League Baseball has announced the Derby will go on, but because of the weather, several rules will be changed to condense the event.
In the past few years, MLB has tinkered with the format in order to cut down on time and increase drama. Last year, that meant switching to a tourney-style bracket with individual showdowns.
This season, the rules have changed again, making things all the more complicated. Instead of using the traditional method of "outs" -- any swing which does not produce a home run -- this year's Derby will be timed. Each batter will receive four minutes to take as many swings as they would like.
Hitters can also earn extra time for especially long home runs. Two long balls of at least 425 feet each will earn an extra 30 seconds. The distance-related bonuses will be judged by MLB.com's Statcast. Each participant also gets one timeout per round.
Originally, each batter was supposed to have five minutes, with the clock stopping during the final minute whenever a participant hit a home run. Players would have also received an extra 30 seconds for one home run longer than 475 feet, and the time bonus for two home runs of 425 feet was supposed to be a full minute.
The seeding for the tournament was determined by players' home run counts so far in the season.
Albert Pujols, who is third in the majors and first in the AL in homers, has the top seed and a first-round matchup with one of the most exciting rookies in baseball, Chicago Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant.
Bryant has only 12 home runs so far this season. Pujols had 13 in June alone, tying a franchise record for long balls in a month. Pujols is already a three-time veteran of the derby, with his last appearance in 2009. His best finish came in 2003, when he lost to Garrett Anderson in the final.
Joc Pederson will represent the Dodgers tonight. He leads all MLB rookies in home runs with 20, five more than the next closest player. He will also face another young third baseman, Baltimore's Manny Machado. Machado has 19 home runs on the year.
The distance bonuses are ideal for Pederson, who leads the majors in average distance on his homers, according to ESPN's Home Run Tracker. On average, his home runs travel 430.5 feet, compared with 387.3 for Machado.
Pederson will have to break a long stretch of futility for Dodgers in the Home Run Derby to have any success, though. Last year, Yasiel Puig failed to hit a single long ball. In 2011 and 2012, Matt Kemp hit for a combined three home runs. In the 30-year history of the event, a Dodger has never advanced to the second round or finished in the top four.
If Pederson does advance, he will face the winner of the Pujols-Bryant matchup in the semifinals. On the other side of the bracket, hometown favorite Todd Frazier has a difficult first round ahead of him, as he tries to knock off two-time champ Prince Fielder. Fielder is listed by oddsmakers as the 15-4 favorite.
Anthony Rizzo, the other corner of the Cubs' young infield, will face Josh Donaldson, third baseman for the Blue Jays. They eachhave averaged more than 400 feet on their home runs this season.
The top two sluggers in the game, Miami's Giancarlo Stanton and Washington's Bryce Harper, are both missing from the derby due to injury. Stanton has a broken left hand, and, though Harper is injury-free, he passed on the derby in part because his father, who would have pitched to him, is recovering from rotator cuff surgery.
UPDATES
2:55 p.m.: Updates with details of changes to Home Run Derby rules because of weather.
This story was originally published at 1:21 p.m.
