Prince Fielder Wins the 2009 Home Run Derby

Sports Betting News - July 14th, 2009 - Written by Bruce

Prince Fielder showed that he is one of the best power hitters in the game right now by winning the 2009 Home Run Derby last night. The derby featured some of the premiere power hitters in the game including the hometown favorite Albert Pujols. The players put on quite a show hitting some huge home runs, none bigger than one hit by Fielder in the second round. The night started with 8 players in total four from each league. In the first round Brandon Inge had a bit of trouble as he finished with zero home runs and was eliminated. Adrian Gonzalez, Joe Mauer, and Carlos Pena were all also eliminated in the first round.

The leaders after the first round were Nelson Cruz and Prince Fielder who put on a show with 11 home runs each. Ryan Howard advanced with 7 home runs and Pujols won a swing off tiebreaker after the first round to advance. Him, Carlos Pena, and Joe Mauer each had 5 first round homers so they had a five swing tiebreaker with the most home runs advancing. Pujols was last to go and gave the St. Louis fans something to cheer about as he looked his best all night hitting two home run blasts that sent him into the second round. The first round scores carried over to the second round so Pujols was still not in very good shape as his five home runs was six behind the leaders.

The second round saw Pujols get the action started with him hitting six home runs to give a total of 11. The fans gave him a huge round of applause but were no doubt disappointed as their hometown hero would not advance. Ryan Howard is former winner of the home run derby winning the title back in 2006. He was hoping that this experience would give him an edge last night and he was able to hit 8 second round home runs giving him a total of 15. This left him only 4 home runs ahead of the two remaining players and they were yet to hit in the second round. Nelson Cruz stepped up next and hit 5 home runs clinching a spot in the finals with a total of 16. Last to go was Fielder who had already hit some mammoth shots in the first round. In this round really gave the fans something to cheer about as he connected on a gigantic home run which was estimated at over 500 feet. He looked very comfortable at the plate and blasted another six home runs this round before stopping as he had also clinched with a total of 17.  The final was set now with Fielder and Cruz both advancing.

The final round started with Nelson Cruz hitting 5 home runs hoping that he had done enough to win the title. With the way that Fielder had been blasting home runs all night it was unlikely that the 5 hit by Cruz would be enough to win. Fielder looked very strong in the finals and hit the winning 6th home run with three outs remaining. After clinching the title he celebrated with fellow Milwaukee Brewer fellow All Star Ryan Braun. By winning the home run derby Fielder has truly solidified himself as one the best power hitters in the game. He hit 50 home runs in 2007 making him the youngest MLB player to do so at the age of 23. Add that to being the 2009 Home Derby Champion and Prince Fielder is making quite a statement in his early career.