Blue Jays' 10 best Home Run Derby performances, ranked

Yes, the 2021 Home Run Derby is going to be epic. But one can’t help but wonder, what if…

After breaking records and catching the eye of the entire league only to fall short of the title in 2019, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. decided to sit out this year’s edition of the Derby, with the intention of focusing and re-grounding himself ahead of the second half.

Understandable, seeing as how the Jays are just over .500 and in the thick of their playoff push, and Guerrero Jr. is, well, an important piece in that endeavour.

But that means baseball fans won’t get a Vladdy vs. Shohei Ohtani Derby faceoff Monday night during the All-Star festivities in Denver. It also means Toronto is still looking for its first-ever Home Run Derby champ.

In honour of what could have been, here’s a look at 10 of the Blue Jays’ near-misses in the history of the tournament, ranked from lacklustre to epic.

10. Vernon Wells, 2010

Wells is remembered for many things, but his Home Run Derby appearance is not one of them. At a sunny Angel Stadium in 2010, Wells was promptly eliminated in Round 1 after hitting just two homers.

Still, his charisma stole the show as the Blue Jays slugger quipped and joked and yanked smiles from opponents and fans alike.

9. Joe Carter, 1991

This was a special Derby, even if Carter couldn’t drive more than two balls out of the park before being eliminated, for this Derby was held at what was then called the SkyDome.

The hometown kid managed just a couple of home runs before bowing out to Cal Ripken Jr., who won the whole thing with a whopping score of 12. At the time, players were called out after taking five swings that didn’t turn into homers, which puts into perspective just how incredible that mark really was.

Either way, the home run that would etch Carter’s name in history was still a couple of years away at this point.

8. Joe Carter, 1992

At 53-34 in a season that would end up as Toronto’s first of two consecutive World Series wins, Carter took another swing at the Derby, this time beside Canadian Larry Walker. But the 1992 All-Star Week in San Diego was all about Ken Griffey Jr. and Mark McGwire. Griffey Jr. was crowned the champion in a Derby filled with rivalry.

Carter, on the other hand, managed to do a little better than the year prior, hitting four dingers, tied with Walker.

7. Jesse Barfield, 1986

Less than nine years old at the time, the Blue Jays entered a competition even younger than their franchise. Barfield was the one who put the Jays on the board, with a two-homer performance in the Astrodome. At the time, the format dictated that each player was given two “innings” to hit as many homers as they could before reaching five “outs” — swings that weren’t home runs.

Barfield ended up losing to the Angels’ Wally Joyner and the Cubs’ Andre Dawson. But he gave the Blue Jays something more precious: some visibility.

6. Carlos Delgado, 2000

A star on the rise, Delgado turned heads in 2000, making it to the semifinals in Atlanta, but falling to Griffey Jr.

Delgado got a single ball out of the park in the second round, while the Mariner-turned-Red drove out three. Griffey Jr. didn’t win that year, though, falling in the final to veteran Sammy Sosa.

5. Josh Donaldson, 2015

Donaldson thumped his bat on his shoes, looking as mean as ever, before taking his first big swing and instantly watching it leave Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. The whole ritual would have had a lot more gravitas were it not for the half-dozen kids running after the ball in left field.

The 2015 MVP edged Anthony Rizzo by one point in the first round, only to fall in the second to Todd Frazier, also by a single marker.

4. Jose Bautista, 2014

Two years removed from one of the most iconic Derby performances ever (keep reading for more on that), Bautista was back at it, falling just short of replicating the madness that was 2012.

Bautista hit 10 homers in the first round, sat the second on bye, and came back to face Yoenis Cespedes in the semis. Minnesota is notoriously a difficult ballpark for hitters, averaging fewer home runs than league average. Bautista, however, knew exactly what he needed to do, pulling virtually all of his successful swings toward the left-field wall.

However, Cespedes was a man on a mission that year. He recorded seven home runs against Bautista’s four and went on to beat Todd Frazier in the final, 9 to 1.

The following year, Bautista would hit the home run that guaranteed an eternal spot in Blue Jays fans’ hearts.

3. Alex Rios, 2007

In one of the most iconic Home Run Derby editions in MLB history, Rios lost to none other than Vladimir Guerrero Sr., then with the Angels, in San Francisco. In an electric final round, Guerrero mashed three homers against Rios’s two.

The Blue Jays slugger finished with two more total homers than Guerrero (19 vs. 17). If only they’d competed back in the 1980’s, when all that counted was the total.

2. Jose Bautista, 2012

He wanted it so badly.

What made this one special wasn’t the final result, but how Bautista got there. The Dominican Republic native battled through every single out against Angels hitter Mark Trumbo, After the two deadlocked their semifinal at 13 homers apiece, Trumbo and Bautista entered the tie-breaking swing-off, in which each player was given five swings to try to drive as many as possible out of the park.

Bautista only needed two. He got the first two to go, swinging so hard in the second one that it caused him to spin his body 360 degrees, all while still maintaining that heroic, Bautista-esque expression. With that, the Blue Jays slugger was off to face Prince Fielder in the final.

But he wasn’t able to repeat the success of previous rounds, finishing the final with a respectable seven homers, while Fielder put up an astounding 12 to finish him off.

1. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 2019

Talk about a showstopper. The rookie slugger with a Derby pedigree (see No. 3 on this list) gave MLB a little taste of what it now experiences on a day-to-day basis: Vlad Guerrero Jr. is a power-hitting star.

Guerrero Jr. went neck and neck with Joc Pederson in the semifinal with both sluggers breaking the single-round home-run record as they went. In the end, Vladdy hit 40 to Pederson’s 39 and the Cleveland crowd went absolutely ballistic for him. Just as important, the kid looked like he was enjoying himself.

He then went on to face Pete Alonso in the final round, with the rallied support of pretty much everyone that wasn’t a Mets fan.

But Alonso outlasted him.

Guerrero Jr. finished the Derby with 91 total home runs — an all-time record — including 22 in the final, one short of the Mets first baseman. It was baseball in a nutshell: you may feel like you’ve got it, but one swing can change everything.

Maybe next year.

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