ANAHEIM, Calif. — No, Mike Trout will not be participating in this year’s Home Run Derby. Yes, Major League Baseball keeps trying.
“Every year,” Trout said. “Every year they ask me.”
Trout, an All-Star starter for the seventh consecutive year after leading the sport in fan votes, has always declined to take part in the event. But he has never ruled out the possibility of someday changing his mind, even now.
“Maybe one year I’ll say to myself, ‘Hey, let’s do it,'” Trout said. “I’m obviously a big fan of watching it. It’s just what it is. I enjoyed watching it as a kid, thought it was cool. I just never really wanted to do it.”
The Home Run Derby will move from Cleveland to Southern California next year, when the Los Angeles Dodgers host the All-Star Game, perhaps increasing the possibility that Trout takes part.
It isn’t just MLB or the media that pesters Trout about the Derby. It’s friends back home, fans in visiting road cities, even teammates. The Los Angeles Angels’ star center fielder took part in a home run derby his senior year of high school, winning the event while batting left-handed, and did another as a 17-year-old playing A ball.
As a big leaguer, Trout prefers to maximize time with his family during the All-Star break. The workload is also a concern.
“It’s a long, long night,” Trout said. “A lot of swings.”
Trout watched Albert Pujols compete in the Home Run Derby in 2015, nearly beating Todd Frazier in the final round. And there’s a chance — slim, it seems — that he might watch another teammate in Shohei Ohtani compete this year.
Ohtani has expressed interest in taking part, but he might not be named an All-Star, and there are complications stemming from his ongoing recovery from Tommy John surgery.
“I think he would probably win,” Trout said. “He’s got some of the best power in the league. Obviously this year it’d be different because he just came off Tommy John. I mean I want him to do it, I’m sure he wants do it. I don’t know if our trainers would like that. You’re coming off Tommy John and going up there taking full hacks. Will it affect his swing? Will it affect his arm? Probably not. But we need him back throwing 105.”