Christian Yelich to compete in the Home Run Derby

The Milwaukee Brewers will have a Home Run Derby participant for the second-consecutive season when Christian Yelich heads to the plate in July.

Yeli was caught talking to Josh Bell about competing in the derby during the pre-game warmups. Reporters came to his locked and asked him after the game if he could confirm and he said he for sure was.

It seemed pretty obvious that Yelich would compete given his numbers. After smashing 36 bombs last season, he leads all of baseball with 29 home runs. While he’s in a bit of a cold stretch, he’s still one of the most dominant bats in the game and deserves the opportunity to mash some balls for the fans.

Concerned about the Home Run Derby messing up Yeli’s swing? He doesn’t want to hear it. After the news went public, he responded to some fans concerned that only bad things could come from him competing.

Jesús Aguilar competed in the derby last year as an All-Star. He hit 12 homers but was eliminated in the first round by Rhys Hoskins. Mike Moustakas competed the year before as a Royal and lost to Miguel Sano in round one. Before that, you’d have to go all the way back to 2011 to find a Brewer competing. That was the infamous year when Prince Fielder was captain and selected Rickie Weeks to come with. Weeks lost in round one but Fielder made it to the second round before being eliminated. Speaking of Fielder, he run the Home Run Derby crown in 2009.