Home Run Derby 2019: Format, Bracket Layout and Predictions

Six of the eight participants for the 2019 Home Run Derby at Progressive Field have already been determined. 

Three of the top four home run hitters in Major League Baseball are locked into the field, including league leader Christian Yelich.

Joining Yelich, Pete Alonso and Josh Bell are young stars Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ronald Acuna, as well as Carlos Santana, who will try to win the competition in front of his home fans in Cleveland.

The other two competitors will be announced Wednesday night, when the bracket for the contest will be revealed. 

Format and Bracket Layout

The Home Run Derby participants are slotted into an eight-player bracket that uses a single-elimination format to determine the champion.

The competitors will be seeded No. 1 through No. 8 based off their home run totals at the time of seeding. 

In each round, the players are allotted four minutes to hit as many home runs as possible, and they receive an extra 30 seconds if they hit two shots over 440 feet. 

If a tie occurs in any round, there will be a 90-second swing-off to determine the winner. If that does not produce a winner, the matchup will go to a swing-off of three pitches, and then sudden death if necessary. 

Predictions

Santana Achieves Success In Home Park 

Santana comes into the Home Run Derby with a significant advantage over the other participants since he has played in Cleveland for the majority of his career. 

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

The right-handed batter has hit 97 career home runs at Progressive Field, and 12 of his 18 home runs this season have come inside his home ballpark. 

Santana will need that home-field knowledge as he will come in as an underdog in terms of home run totals.

The 33-year-old is guaranteed to be seeded in the bottom four spots after hitting fewer home runs than four of the announced participants. 

Although there have been few hometown winners of the Home Run Derby, Bryce Harper was able to achieve that feat in 2018 at Nationals Park in an event in which two lower seeds advanced to the semifinals. 

In the last three years, at least one lower seed has advanced to the last four, which is a positive sign for Santana. 

He will also be hitting in comfortable surroundings and will not have the pressure to win the competition on his shoulders, so he should be able to swing loose at the plate and put on a show. 

Yelich Erases Curse Of No. 1 Seed

In the first four years of the current Home Run Derby format, the No. 1 seed has never advanced to the championship round. 

Gary Landers/Associated Press

In 2015 and 2016, Albert Pujols and Mark Trumbo were eliminated in the semifinals, while Giancarlo Stanton and Jesus Aguilar were knocked out in the first round in 2017 and 2018. 

Yelich is expected to be the No. 1 seed when the bracket is released due to him having three more home runs than Alonso. 

The Milwaukee Brewers outfielder will be the favorite to win the competition after hitting 31 homers, which is five fewer than his current career high. 

Because he has been so successful at the dish, it is hard to believe Yelich will fail to put on a show Monday. 

In the first half of the season, the 27-year-old proved he can be a streaky hitter, with three stretches of at least three games with a home run.

The one argument you could make against him in the Home Run Derby is he has never homered at Progressive Field in 21 plate appearances. 

However, that is too small of a sample size to base his derby performance off, and we feel more comfortable using his form this season as an indicator for success Monday. 

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90

Statistics obtained from Baseball Reference and MLB.com