Vlad Jr. May Have Won The Derby But Adley Rutschman Won Over The Baseball World With His Switch Hitting Performance
Congrats to Vladdy Jr, put on an awesome show to win the derby last night over Randy Arozarena. But let's be honest, the real star of the show was Adley Rutschman flexing on everyone and hitting from both sides of the plate. I believe he's the first player to do this in a derby? Switch hitter hitting tanks from both sides int he same round, it was an AWESOME moment to watch. He had his dad pitching to him which is just so cool, we've seen it a few times with Robinson Cano and Bryce Harper, just something really neat about your dad throwing to you in the stadium where you grew up going to. He hit 21 from the left side in regulation time and we didn't know what we were in for when it came to the 30 second bonus time.
Such a smart move to switch to the right side for the bonus round, I bet you feel fresher, different swing, he knew what he was doing and holy moly did he put on a show from the right side. 6 out of 7 were bombed over the wall in extra time for a first round total of 27. Of course Louis Robert is a machine and hit 28 with ease, think he had like 44 seconds left in bonus time but that isn't the story. The story was Adley lighting the baseball world on fire with his switch hitting antics. A lot of people were wondering why Adley was included.....now you see why. Raw power from both sides, a super smooth swing, just an awesome performance by 35.
I'm not going to complain about the format, I won't. I will point out that Adley hit more homers in the first round than Vladdy Jr did in any of his rounds. I'm also just going to point out that Adley hit the third most homers in the first round only being Robert and Julio Rodriguez. Just saying. This reminds me of the Josh Hamilton derby in NY. No one remembers that Justin Morneau won, you only remember Hamilton's performance. What a night for the Rutschmans and what an awesome performance by Adley. If you weren't a fan of his going in, you 100% are now.