During the All-Star break festivities, the event that garners the most attention by a wide margin is the MLB Home Run Derby. The derby distills things down to one universal truth: fans love dingers and want to see the best hitters in baseball hit a whole lot of them. Some of the best power hitters of all time have taken home the Home Run Derby crown including Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, and Frank Thomas. Of note: no Atlanta Braves player has ever won the Home Run Derby since its inception in 1985.
Garret Anderson also won it in 2003 and scholars are still trying to figure out how that happened.
In recent years, invites to the Home Run Derby have become decidedly less prestigious, unfortunately. Teams worry about guys getting hurt swinging as hard as they can for multiple rounds and players worry about messing their swings up and/or not getting the downtime they need during the break. It is still a huge honor, but more and more guys (like Aaron Judge and Juan Soto this year for example) are turning down the opportunity.
One player that is not passing up on the chance to crush some baseballs in search of glory is the Braves' Marcell Ozuna who agreed to take part in the 2024 MLB Home Run Derby.
The Big Bear is IN!@Braves slugger Marcell Ozuna will participate in the #HRDerby in Arlington.
— MLB (@MLB) July 8, 2024
(MLB x @TMobile) pic.twitter.com/hwAZyGEPCu
Marcell Ozuna could become the first Braves player to ever win the Home Run Derby
As of this moment in time, the Home Run Derby only has five players who have committed to participate in Gunnar Henderson, Bobby Witt Jr., Alec Bohm, Pete Alonso (of course he is), and now Ozuna. Ozuna is certainly qualified to participate as he hit 40 homers last season and has 23 homers so far in the first half. The man knows how to hit bombs.
Ozuna doesn't have history on his side in the event as no Brave has ever won it. Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. participated twice and got eliminated by Alonso both times in 2019 and 2022. Other Braves luminaries who have taken part in past years include Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Freddie Freeman, Fred McGriff, and Dale Murphy and all failed to take home the crown.
That said, Ozuna is a guy who is built to hit for power consistently and with some of the top contenders not taking part this year, it wouldn't be too crazy if he made a run at the win, although Alonso could be tough since it feels like this is an event that he cares WAY too much about.