The Atlanta Braves getting the All-Star game is an exciting and fun event to look forward to. The question now to come is who if anyone should the Braves send to the Home Run Derby.
The AJC reported that the Atlanta Braves and Suntrust Park have been selected to host the 2021 All-Star game with the formal announcement coming next week.
This is an opportunity for the Braves to not only showcase SunTrust Park (or whatever it’ll be named by then), but also the young talent that makes the Braves exciting to watch on a nightly basis.
That topic immediately started a debate among us writers for TomahawkTake about who the Braves should send to the Home Run Derby… if anyone.
I think Bryce Harper last year – and many before him – showed the value of having the hometown hero in the derby. Having someone to root for gives the hometown fans a reason to go and someone to create excitement in the park.
That excitement should increase attendance which should lead to an increase in concession and jersey sales. All of these would lead to an increase in team revenue and give the Braves more (sorry to say this) ‘financial flexibility’ to add talent to the field.
Not only does it help the team, but it also elevates the status of the player involved in the Home Run Derby. This is an event that the mainstream media actually covers consistently well.
Even people who usually don’t follow baseball tend to check-in to the excitement of the Home Run Derby. That type of exposure can be extremely valuable especially to a young player trying to make a name for himself outside the baseball community.
When watching the Derby notice every year Josh Hamilton’s name comes up and his historic derby highlights are shown even though he retired in 2015. That night will forever aide his legacy and allow him to be remembered much longer than if he had opted out.
So if we’re gonna send an Atlanta Braves player to the Home Run Derby, let’s decide who that player should be.