Brian Dozier has been selected to take part in the 2014 Home Run Derby. He'll be the first Twin to take part since 2009, when Joe Mauer participated but didn't get out of the first round after hitting five out of the park.
Congrats to @BrianDozier on being selected to participate in the 2014 Home Run Derby at Target Field! pic.twitter.com/Qg5xjUekFG
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) July 8, 2014
Dozier has 16 home runs in 394 plate appearances this season, just two homers away from the number he put up last summer in 623 plate appearances. He leads all second baseman this season by a significant margin, and is currently 13th in the American League overall.
The American League has three participants currently, with Jose Bautista and Adam Jones set to join Dozier. Both Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera have declined invitations. There's no shortage of good options available, but Bautista needs to find two more members for his team.
Update:
Current Home Run Derby rosters include Jose Bautista, Adam Jones Brian Dozier and current reigning champion Yeonis Cespedes for the American League, and Troy Tulowitzki, Giancarlo Stanton, Yasiel Puig, and Todd Frazier for the National League. The final spot for each team will be named Thursday.
If you're interested in watching the Derby, or just Dozier, you can catch it at 7:00pm on this coming Monday, July 14. It'll be an opportunity to see how the new bracket-style format works out.
In the new format, the player with the most home runs for each league earns a bye into round three. Meanwhile, the players getting second and third place in each league face off in round two (just seven outs here, instead of the standard ten), with the winners heading on to face the winners of round one. From there, we naturally get to the finals. Get it?
Congratulations, Brian, and good luck!