Home Run Derby 2015: Manny Machado Falls in First Round to Joc Pederson

On Monday night, Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado competed in the 2015 edition of the Home Run Derby, and fell in the first round to Joc Pederson of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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Machado had the misfortune of going first in his one-on-one battle with Pederson, but he put on a show, and he made it look easy. He put up 12 home runs, which would have placed him fourth overall in the first round, good enough to advance to the second round under the old rules. However, when Pederson stepped to the plate and one-upped Machado, on his way to 13 home runs, he made Machado a tough luck loser.

While it was a tough loss for Machado, it was hard to complain about his performance. He had a bit of a rough start to his round, but once he got going, the ball was jumping off his bat. Most people know that Machado has a lot of power, but he really impressed with some of the long balls he hit, which were, well, long.

However, Pederson was just more impressive. It seemed as though he wasn’t even making good contact on balls that were going well over 400 feet.

Pederson didn’t slow down either. He would hit 12 in the second round to advance past top seed Albert Pujols, then hit 14 in the finals, but he was edged out by the hometown hero, Todd Frazier.

All in all, the new format provided a lot of excitement, and all eight guys embraced the new rules to try and put on a show.

If this is what we have to look forward to every year, the Home Run Derby may be making a comeback.

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