2017 Home Run Derby Results: Winner, Takeaways from New Format

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge continued his dominant season as he blew away the field en route to winning the 2017 Home Run Derby.

Judge hit 23 home runs in the first round, 13 in the semifinals and an additional 11 in the championship round for a total of 47. He hit four homers totaling 500 feet or more, including back-to-back 504-foot and 513-foot shots in the semifinals.

Remarkably, Judge still had one minute left in the semifinals and just under two minutes remaining in the championship round when he hit his clinching dingers.

Here are the results for each round. Note that any matchup that has an asterisk indicates that the winning participant finished his round with time left on the clock after he hit the round-clinching home run.

2017 Home Run Derby Results

First Round

No. 2 Aaron Judge 23, No. 7 Justin Bour 22 *

No. 3 Cody Bellinger 15, No. 6 Charlie Blackmon 14

No. 8 Gary Sanchez 17, No. 1 Giancarlo Stanton 16

No. 5 Miguel Sano 11, No. 4 Mike Moustakas 10

Semifinals

No. 2 Aaron Judge 13, No. 3 Cody Bellinger 12 *

No. 5 Miguel Sano 11, No. 8 Gary Sanchez 10 *

Finals

No. 2 Aaron Judge 11, No. 5 Miguel Sano 10 *

Format Takeaways

1. The Bracket Needs To Be Scrapped

Lost in the midst of Judge's show and Gary Sanchez upsetting Giancarlo Stanton was the fact that Miami Marlins first baseman Justin Bour put forth a phenomenal first-round effort, smacking 22 dingers, which was the second-best single-round performance in the entire Derby. He also ate a doughnut during his timeout, instantly making him a legend.

Bour's reward for that effort? A seat on the bench for the remainder of the Derby, as Judge beat Bour in their one-on-one matchup and advanced to the semifinals. It's a bad look that Minnesota Twins third baseman Miguel Sano made the second round (and eventually the finals) even though he hit half of Bour's amount (11).

There is simply no reason to have a bracket. Take the top four players after the first round, and then grab the best two players after the semifinals.

If MLB did that this year instead of the bracket system, we would have had a fantastic final four featuring two New York Yankees sluggers (Judge and Sanchez) going toe-to-toe with two hometown heroes (Giancarlo Stanton and Justin Bour). That would have made for an even more exciting finish.

2. Timed Rounds Make The Home Run Derby More Efficient and Fair

MLB deserves a lot of credit for scrapping the old "10-out" format of the old Home Run Derby, which led to long, drawn-out contests that had the potential to go three-plus hours.

Furthermore, those Home Run Derbies routinely tired out players who had fantastic first rounds. Sometimes, those players would get fatigued and have nothing left in the tank for the semifinals and finals (e.g. Josh Hamilton in 2008).

Now, everyone is on a more even playing field with the four-minute rounds. No one is going to exude more energy than necessary before advancing through to the next tournament level.

3. They Also Make the Home Run Derby Far More Exciting

All four of the first-round matchups were decided by one home run, and each contest either (a) went down to the buzzer or (b) wasn't decided until the 30-second bonus portion of a round.

That made for a great start to the Home Run Derby. The fans stayed juiced throughout the entire event after the raucous start, and the timed element provides a level of excitement that the Derby has not seen before 2015, when this began.

For example, we got to see Cody Bellinger, who was receiving pitches from his father Clay, a former New York Yankees utility man, hit a home run at the buzzer to beat Charlie Blackmon in the first round. It was a great moment to see Bellinger hit that final home run and hug his father at the end.

Expect this timed format to stick around for quite some time. The only thing that needs a change is the bracket. Other than that, the Derby can't get better.