Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made quite the impression in the first round of the 2019 Home Run Derby Monday night. The record for dingers in a round was 28; Yung Vlad, in the first round of his first appearance in the derby, as a 20-year-old rookie, socked 29. It was very, very fun.
This is a pretty good reminder that dinger totals are an unnecessary and bad criteria for entry to the derby. Vlad hit more than three times as many dingers tonight as he has in 61 games with the Blue Jays. He is unquestionably one of the most powerful dong smashers on earth, and baseball made the exact right move to invite him to participate despite his meager production.
And, because he is just absurd, Vlad went out and hit another 29 in the second round.
Also, this is pretty neat.