OAKLAND, Calif. — It’s official. Oakland Athletics left fielder Yonenis Cespedes will defend his title at the Home Run Derby on Monday night at Target Field, on the eve of the All-Star Game.
That’s the good news and the bad news for the A’s.
“It was so entertaining last year and whenever you get an opportunity to do that as a player, I certainly understand that,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said Tuesday before his team’s 6-1 victory against San Francisco at the O.co Coliseum. “You can’t help but be a little nervous about that. That’s the case with any organization that has a player in it. But at the end of the day it is a very entertaining event. The fact that he won it last year gave us a little more exposure. Probably not a bad thing. You just hope nobody gets hurt.”
Cespedes, who made the AL All-Star team for the first time this year, slugged 32 home runs last year to win the derby. This year he’ll join captain Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays, Minnesota’s Brian Dozier, Baltimore’s Adam Jones and a player who will be selected Thursday for the American League.
Last year Cespedes missed the A’s first four games after the All-Star Game break with soreness in his left wrist. He was scratched from the July 19 game, Oakland’s first post-break game, four days after the derby.
Melvin was asked if participating in the Home Run Derby and taking so many hard swings contributed to Cespedes’ wrist injury.
“I really don’t know,” Melvin said. “It didn’t happen right away. It was a couple days afterward. You’re not really sure. There is a lot of torque in his swing and whether or not it was just one swing after that that affected it or it was affected during the Home Run Derby, I would say probably not based on the fact that when he first came back it wasn’t a problem . It just popped up right after that.”