No Home Run Derby may have been best for Justin Upton’s career
Jul 13, 2011, 5:33 PM | Updated: 6:55 pm
As everybody knows, Justin Upton was not invited to this year’s Home Run Derby.
While the fans were upset as they wanted to see a hometown player participate in the event, Doug Franz of Sports 620 KTAR’s Doug and Wolf thinks it might have been a good thing for the young right fielder.
“One of the best things in Justin Upton’s career might be the fact that he didn’t get invited to the Home Run Derby,” Franz said.”If he would have flamed out in that thing what would have happened?…People would have acted like the world has just ended.”
Upton, who is hitting .293 with 15 home runs and 46 RBI, is having a great season thus far and would have loved to perform in front of the fans, but a bad derby could have turned the crowd against him. In a best case scenario, Upton would have won the derby, but there was also the chance he could have pulled a Matt Kemp and just hit two home runs.
Despite the excitement and fanfare surrounding the event, the Home Run Derby is meaningless and it may be better for Upton and the Diamondbacks that he did not participate in the high-risk, high-reward event.
